Lady Vikings chop down Lumberjacks, toppled by Toppers

Playing a third non-conference game against a team from the Heart O’ North Conference, the third time was the charm as the Colfax girls soundly defeated the Ladysmith Lumberjacks (or Lumberjills, depending on who you talk to), 61-40 at home Feb. 16. Two days later, they finished off the regular season with a conference game at Glenwood City and lost for the second time this season by double digits to the Hilltoppers  61-43. The loss ended the Vikings’ regular season with a 12-10 overall record and a conference record of 9-5. Glenwood City finished 12-2 in conference play, one game behind Elk Mound and they are 20-2 overall.

Ladysmith

After losing to state ranked Hayward in their first game of the season, and to Bloomer a couple of weeks ago, both teams from the highly competitive Heart O’ North, the Vikings were zoned in from long range with 11 triples from six different players  to help them take the lop-sided win.

Although they fell behind 5-0, Colfax eventually took the lead with a trey by Bryanna Buchanan and an old fashioned three point play by Savannah Henricks. Alyssa Dachel knocked down a triple for a 9-5 advantage and the Vikings led from there on out. On senior night for Colfax, lone senior Dempsey Fogarty pulled down an offensive rebound and ended up hitting a free throw and Buchanan made it 13-8 with her second shot from downtown, Dachel connected on another long ball, Ally Heidorn dropped in a pair of free tosses and Henricks scored from close range as did Heidorn and it was 23-11 rather quickly. Heidorn scored off an in-bounds pass then canned a triple, Emma Hurlburt knocked down three free throws and scored on a bucket a second before the buzzer sounded from the paint on a perfect assist on a drive and dish from Dachel for a 35-17 halftime lead.

“Ladysmith is a solid team and are well coached,” Colfax coach Joe Doucette said. “We knew we would have to move the ball and pass well against their zone defense. We were able to do that and made some big shots to give us a nice lead”.

Although Ladysmith’s leading scorer Michaela Malec scored 13 of her game high 19 in the second half, the Vikings connected from all over the court to build on their lead. After Fogarty scored on a layup and Henricks swiped the ball and added her own, it was 39-17 and the Vikings maintained a 20 point advantage the rest of the contest. With help from three point shots from Hailey Durand-Christianson, Hurlburt, two from Henricks and another from Fogarty, it was lights out for Ladysmith and Durand-Christianson ended the scoring with two free throws.

Heidorn had a team high 15 points and seven rebounds to lead the Vikings while Fogarty and Hurlburt both snared six rebounds. Fogarty also picked up six assists, five steals and three blocks to lead in those departments. The Vikings were 11 for 27 from three point land and were 14 of 24 from the foul line.

COLFAX (61) Heidorn 4-5-7-15, Henricks 5-1-1-13, Dachel 3-0-0-9,Hurlburt 2-4-8-9, Buchanan 2-0-0-6, Durand-Christianson 1-2-4-5, Fogarty 1-2-4-4

LADYSMITH (40) Melic 6-5-9-19, A. Bullard 2-0-2-6, L. Sarauer 2-1-2-6, H. Abbiehl 1-0-0-3, M. Effertz 1-0-0-2, B. Baker 0-2-2-2, A. Read 1-0-0-2

THREE POINTERS: Dachel 3, Heidorn 2, Henricks 2, Buchanan 2, Bullard 2, Melic 2, Hurlburt 1, Durand-Christianson 1, Sarauer 1, Abbiehl 1

Glenwood City 

For as well as the Vikings had been playing lately, they were no match again for the senior dominated Glenwood City girls. Although the game was close throughout the first half with the Vikings down just 29-26,  things began to slip away early in the second stanza when the Toppers Gabby Peterson canned four triples in a short period of time. Colfax was unable to match Glenwood’s explosive offense and their normally suffocating defense just wasn’t slowing the Toppers down.

Bright spots for the Vikings in the first half came from Dachel who canned a pair of triples and the team  knocked down 9 of 12 free throws which included 4 of 4 by Megan Schleusner. But they scored just 17 second half points which came from a trey each from Hailey Prince, Buchanan and Dachel while Heidorn scored on a deuce and a trio of free throws, Fogarty added a bucket and Hurlburt a free toss.

“Glenwood was clearly the better team and we have no excuses,” Doucette said. “They are big, strong and experienced and I think they can play with anybody in our sectional. We did some good things but they were just better tonight. I hope we can be at our best this week during tournament time,” he added.

Nary a Viking reached double figures in the scoring department as Dachel finished with nine points on her trio of triples. The Toppers had five players with eight or more points led by Peterson’s 15 on five treys and Rachel Klatt’s 15.

Colfax will begin regional play at home Feb. 23 against Elmwood-Plum City, a team they beat twice by a combined score of 117-45 this year. The winner will travel to Durand Feb. 26. The Hilltoppers received a bye as the number two seed and will play the winner of the Spring Valley-Cadott contest, also on Feb. 26.

GLENWOOD CITY (61)  G. Peterson 5-0-0-15, Klatt 7-1-2-15, M. Petersen 5-1-3-11, M. Kadinger 5-0-0-10, J. Klinger 3-0-0-8, M. Voeltz 0-2-2-2

COLFAX (43) Dachel 3-0-0-9, Schleusner 1-4-4-7, Heidorn 1-4-5-6, Henricks 2-2-3-6, Fogarty 2-1-1-5, Buchanan 1-1-2-4, Prince 1-0-0-3, Hurlburt 1-1-2-3

THREE POINTERS: G. Peterson 5, Dachel 3, Klinger 2, Schleusner 1, Prince 1, Buchanan 1