Lady Vikings take care of Mounders, Doucette tops 1,000 point mark

COLFAX — In their second and final meeting of the season, the Colfax girls took an early lead then slowly and methodically put Elk Mound away with a 52-26 win in Colfax Feb. 11. In the process, Mallie Doucette became the fifth Viking girl in the school’s history to surpass the 1,000 point mark with a third quarter drive through the lane. Doucette finished with 20 points including 11 in the third quarter.

Colfax pulled out to an 8-0 lead on single free throws by Braanna Steen and Dannielle Dachel along with baskets from Alexis Rudi and Doucette. Elk Mound got on the board when McKenna McVey came up with two straight buckets in the quarter but a deuce from Rudi and a Doucette trey put the lead at 13-4 before Sarah Winchester and MvVey connected from close range to get the Mounders closer, down 13-8.

Colfax senior Katlin Sauerwein, who hasn’t seen much playing time after dealing with an injury earlier in the season, came up with two quick baskets from under the hoop but Elizabeth Fasbender countered with a half court drive to the basket for two points and added a free throw on the Mounders next possession as Colfax held a 17-11 lead. Two consecutive shots by Doucette upped the lead to 21-11 and after MvVey knocked down a pair of free throws, that was all the scoring the Mounders could do as they turned the ball over several times and had some open shots bounce or roll off the rim. Steen added a final deuce to give the Vikings a 23-13 halftime lead.

Doucette decided not to keep the fans in suspense as she went on a tear to open the third quarter, scoring on a drive with a free throw, and putting in points number 999 and 1,000 on the next possession on yet another trip through the lane. The well went dry yet again for the Mounders as they were getting a shot off but failed to find the hoop in three straight possessions, and with a Rudi trey, another Doucette deuce and a Steen shot from close range, Colfax was up 35-13. Fasbender broke the run with a pair of free tosses but  Winchester’s triple were the only other Mounder points scored while the Vikings’ Jessica Moonen drained her own long ball and Doucette scored twice more from the lane as the third stanza ended with Colfax up  44-18

“We needed some of those shots to go in,” Elk Mound coach Jordan Kongshaug said. “Colfax is a very good team and they don’t make a lot of mistakes. You can’t afford to make mistakes against them and you have to make shots when you get the chance. We managed to break their press quite a bit but didn’t score when it counted.”

Moonen canned another triple to begin the final quarter while Steen scored on a put back and Chey Olson finished off the Colfax scoring with a deuce and a free throw.  Winchester heated up and nailed a pair of treys and Danae Sternecker’s two free throws finished off the Mounder’s scoring.

“Elk Mound played hard and they have a lot of young, talented kids,” Colfax coach Joe Doucette said. “I was proud of how we took care of business and got the win. We took control of the game at the start of the second half and our defense was very solid which allowed our offense to score points. And our bench got better as the game went on. Our solid play and teamwork has put us in a good position to win another conference title but we still have plenty of work to do,” he added.

Besides Doucette’s 20 points, Steen adding 11 for Colfax while Winchester was the only Mounder in double figures with 11 points. The Vikings were 6 for 13 from the foul line and Elk Mound showed some improvement in that department, hitting 7 of 10.

COLFAX (52) Doucette 9-1-2-20, Steen 4-3-4-11, Rudi 3-0-0-7, Moonen 2-0-0-6, Sauerwein 2-0-2-4, Olson 1-1-1-3, Dachel 0-1-2-1

ELK MOUND (26) Winchester 4-0-0-11, McVey 3-2-4-8, Fasbender 1-3-4-5, Sternecker 0-2-2-2

THREE POINTERS: Winchester 3, Moonen 2, Doucette 1, Rudi 1