Colfax girls win Dunn-St. Croix Conference battle of unbeatens over Elk Mound
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TOUGH SHOOTING — Elk Mound freshman Ellie Schiszik (#5) tried to get this shot off as the Vikings’ Madison Barstad (#22, left) and Emilee Burcham-Scofield (#24, right) plaeyd tight defense during the Dunn-St. Croix girls’ basketball showdown in Elk Mound January 22. Schiszik finished with 13 points to lead the Mounders who lost 29-42 to the Vikings. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Marlys Kruger
Sprots Corresondent
ELK MOUND — In a playoff type atmosphere with both sides of the bleachers nearly full in the Elk Mound gym, the Colfax and Elk Mound girls faced off in a mid-season showdown for the lead in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference. Both teams were 6-0 with Durand one game back at 5-1 when the late Saturday afternoon game, which was rescheduled from January 11, began. In the low scoring contest, the Vikings prevailed by a score of 42-29.
The Mounders were playing without Stella Rhude who was out with an injury. Rhude is their second leading scorer and leading rebounder which made things a little difficult under the basket on both sides of the court for them. Colfax took full advantage as post player McKenna Shipman scored in the opening seconds from the paint and Emilee Burcham-Scofield scored from close range and added a free throw for a 5-0 Colfax lead.
Elk Mound has been scoring plenty of points from three-point land as of late and Brooke Emery started things off for the team with one of her own. Ellie Schiszik knotted the score on a drive through the lane before Shipman scored twice from underneath for a 9-5 Viking advantage. Emery knocked down a pair of free throws and Schiszik drained her first triple of the contest to give the Mounders a 10-9 lead.
Molly Heidorn came off the bench for Colfax and gave them a spark with a go ahead jumper at 11-10 and Tori Blaskowski hit one of two free shots for the Mounders to make it 11-11. Shipman drove the lane for a bucket and Schiszik countered with her second long ball and the Mounders were back in front 14-13.
The Vikings went on one of their patented scoring runs however, with eight consecutive points, the first six coming from Shipman on two free throws and a couple of buckets. Jillian Bowe was fouled on a three-point attempt and canned 2-of-3 freebies and it was 21-14 for the Vikings.
The Vikings clamped down on Schiszik and the Mounders were struggling to get the ball in the hoop before Schiszik broke the Colfax run with two free throws. Then Elk Mound’s defense forced back-to-back turnovers by the Vikings allowing Blaskowski to drill a triple to cut the Colfax lead to 21-19.
GETTING AN EARLY TWO — Colfax sophomore McKenna Shipman is shown scoring two of her game-high 21 points in the first half of the girls’ basketball game in Elk Mound Saturday, January 22. The Vikings prevailed 42-29 to remain unbeaten in conference play. —photo by Shawnd DeWitt
The Mounder defense continued to create havoc, not allowing the Colfax offense to get near the basket, but they ended up drawing their seventh team foul with 51 seconds to go in the half. Shipman hit two free tosses and Heidorn one to make it 24-19 at the intermission.
Both teams attempted to shoot the lights out to start the second half with three-point shots being launched from all over the court. Each team missed three of them so the Vikings decided to continue with their first half strategy.
Shipman scored from the lane as did Bowe, causing Mounder coach Jordan Kongshaug to call a time out. Olivia Schreiber scored off the inbounds pass for Elk Mound and after a couple more Colfax missed opportunities, Schiszik drained triple number three from way downtown and the Viking advantage was down to 28-24.
Teams can live or die by three-point shots and on this cold night, neither team could get on a roll from the outside as they both failed to connect on several more attempts from behind the arc within the next four minutes.
THE MOUNDERS’ Tori Blaskowski tired to put a shot over Colfax defender McKenna Shipman in a January 22 game in Elk Mound. The Mounders lost the game 29-42. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
After a Madison Barstad free throw for Colfax, Mounder Lydia Levra finally connected on a triple and the Viking advantage was at 29-27 with around seven minutes left.
But, Jasmine Best picked a great time to knock down her first shot of the game with a trey, and Burcham-Scofield added a deuce off a fast-break layup.
Shipman and Blaskowski traded free throws and on another fast break, the Vikings executed a perfect Shipman-to Burcham-Scofield-to-Shipman layup and it was quickly 37-28.
Blaskowski added another free toss and with 2:46 left, both teams were in the bonus. That led to a lot of free throws the rest of the way, mostly for the Vikings. Best put two in, Burcham-Scofield did the same, and Bowe added a final one. In the meantime, the Mounders mis-fired on several more three-point attempts and missed a pair of free tosses.
“We struggled at the foul line and were unable to hit shots in the second half,” Mounder coach Kongshaug said.
Shipman finished with a game high 21 points and was the only Viking in double figures. Burcham-Scofield added seven, Bowe and Best both had five, Heidorn scored three, and Barstad one. The Vikings shot 15-for-24 from the foul line with Shipman hitting 5-of-7.
Freshman phenom Schiszik led the Mounders with 13 points including three triples while Blaskowski scored six points, Emery five, Levra three and Schreiber two. The Mounders were 7-for-20 from the free throw line.