Boyceville girls open conference play with losses to Spring Valley and Colfax
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BOYCEVILLE’S Zoey Hellendrung drove to the basket during a home game against Colfax on Friday, December 8. The Bulldogs lost the game 68-22. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
When the basketball isn’t falling through the hoop, it’s difficult to win games.
Inconsistent shooting led to a pair of conference losses for the Boyceville girls’ basketball team this past week.
A slow start led to a heartbreaking one-point, conference-opening loss in Spring Valley for the Boyceville Bulldogs Tuesday, December 5th. The Cardinals, who had entered the contest without a win, held on for a 49-48 victory.
Boyceville found little solace at home three days later as Colfax came into the Dog House and overwhelmed the host 68-22.
Spring Valley
Boyceville had a plethora of close range shots, particularly in the first half, when they visited Spring Valley to open play in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference December 5, but too many were missing the basket.
As a result, the Bulldogs trailed 19-32 at the intermission.
Boyceville had just five field goals in the first 18 minutes of action including an Ellie Engeman three pointer and were a mere 3-for-8 at the free throw line during that span.
Conversely, Spring Valley, who had entered the contest 0-5, had made a dozen baskets with four coming from behind the three-point arc. Cardinal senior Mara Ducklow led the host’s offensive surge as she scored two of those triples, five deuces and a free toss for 17 of her game-high 21 points in the opening stanza.
Shots finally began to fall for the Bulldogs in the second half.
Seniors Sarah Stoveren and Hannah Dunn each tossed down two triples in the second half to lead the Boyceville resurgence.
Stoveren finished with 13 points to lead the Bulldogs while Dunn had a dozen. Sophomore Zoey Hellendrung added ten.
Boyceville outscored Spring Valley 29-17 in the second half but fell a point short, losing 49-48.
Boyceville shot 28 percent from the field while Spring Valley finished at 34 percent. Neither team shot particularly well from the line with the Bulldogs making just 6 of 14 shots and the Cardinals finished 5-for-15.
Colfax
Hannah Dunn started the game with a three-point shot for a 3-0 Bulldog lead, but Colfax senior Meadow Keltner made sure that lead didn’t last as she canned her own triple just seconds later to knot things up. That turned out to be the only lead of the game for Boyceville as the Vikings used a 14-point run to pull ahead 17-3.
BULLDOG senior post player Cora Leslie put this one-handed shot over a pair of Colfax defenders during a Dunn-St. Croix girls’ basketball game played December 8 in Boyceville.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
Another Dunn basket, this of the two-point variety, and two hoops and a free throw from Aubrey Malean were the only other Bulldog scores in the first half as they trailed the Vikings 35-13 at halftime.
Colfax opened the second half with a 7-0 run on a McKenna Shipman shot in the lane, Keltner drained another triple and Hydukovich hit a pair of free throws to extend their lead to 42-13.
Chelsi Holden broke the Colfax run with a free throw for Boyceville, but the Vikings quickly added to their lead which grew to 49-14.
Dunn connected on her and the team’s second and final triple and Sarah Stoveren added her only basket of the game. After that, Boyceville’s only points came via the charity stripe were it hit just half of the eight freebies it took during the final nine minutes of the game.
After scoring only 13 points in the first half, Boyceville managed just ten in the second.
Meanwhile, Colfax continued to grow its lead. Goodell put on a show by scoring six of the Vikings next eight points, all from in the paint for a 57-19 lead and a running clock.
Colfax went on to post the 68-22 win.
Goodell led the Vikings with 12 points, McKenna Shipman added 11, Hydukovich and Sierra Shipman both had 10 and Niggemann tacked on eight. Colfax connected on seven triples and went 7-for-10 at the foul stripe.
The Bulldogs leading scorer was Dunn with nine points. Boyceville made just 7-of-16 free throws.
After a 3-1 start, the Bulldogs are now 3-3 and 0-2 in Dunn-St. Croix play.
Boyceville was at Lake Holcombe for a non-conference game on Tuesday and return home Thursday to face unbeaten and defending conference champion Elk Mound. Winless Elmwood-Plum City comes to Boyceville next Tuesday, December 19.