Colfax girls’ basketball comes up short against Durand
By Cara L. Dempski
COLFAX — The Vikings’ head girls’ basketball coach, Joe Doucette, is a positive person who rarely has anything bad to say about the students he works with in Colfax.
The former teacher is someone who can find a silver lining in even the darkest of clouds. So it was a little surprising to hear him use the words “could not” when describing the Vikings’ 56-48 home loss to Durand on January 19.
But, then, in typical Joe Doucette style, he followed the statement with a positive.
“We just can’t get over the top at the end. We had them on the ropes and just could not finish the deal,” Doucette said. “We played hard and did a lot of good things.”
The Colfax coach indicated Durand is the best girls’ team in the sectional, on paper. He hopes the Vikings squad will be motivated by holding its own against the Panthers.
He is right, the Vikings did a lot of good things against the Panthers last Thursday night, including taking a lead late in the second half. Colfax was not able to hang onto its lead, trading high scores with the Panthers in the final three minutes of the contest before falling prey to foul trouble and a sharp-shooting pack of Panther girls.
Colfax opened the game with a two-point shot off the glass from sophomore Emma Hurlburt at 16:06 for the first score of the match-up. She followed suit only a minute or so later with another bucket to make the score 4-2.
The Panthers struck at 12:17 with a big shot from Ambree Schlosser at the top of the key for three points to take a 5-4 lead against the Vikings. The combined efforts of Hurlburt and Savannah Henricks pulled the Vikes even 8-8 at the 10:20 mark in the first half.
The two teams traded shots for the remaining 10 minutes of the half to break for halftime with a score of 18-18.
The Durand team who hit the hardwood after halftime was much more aggressive defensively than in the previous half. Whereas the Vikings controlled the game’s pace for most of the opening half, Durand seemed intent on wresting control of the game during the second half. The Panthers started forcing turnovers for baskets, forcing the Colfax team to take more risks and raise the foul count.
Doucette said senior Bryana Buchanan gave the team a definite lift with her late three-point shot to take the team back over the Panthers, but the Colfax girls just could not get any more big baskets or stops against the Durand squad.
Henricks led Colfax’s scoring effort with 18 points after drilling in a pair of three-pointers, a pair of charity shots, and five field goals. Hurlburt picked up four field goals in the first half and one in the second to take credit for 10 points.
Kameri Meredith played another solid game, nabbing eight points after sinking two field goals and going four-for-four on free throws. Ally Heidorn contributed five points, Buchanan logged three, and Morgan Schleusner put in a field goal after replacing Alyssa Dachel late in the game.
Schlosser scored 19 points for Durand to lead the game in scoring.
The home game against Durand is the only match-up the Vikings played this week after their trip to Elk Mound was postponed a second time due to weather. The two teams will now meet on February 13 in Elk Mound. Colfax headed west on Highway 170 to take on the Boyceville Bulldogs on January 24, and play at home January 27 against Spring Valley. The Vikings then have a break until hosting Elk Mound on February 2.
With the loss to Durand, Colfax fell to 5-3 in the Dunn-St. Croix and 8-7 overall.
DURAND 56, COLFAX 48
Durand……………………………..18 38 — 56
Colfax………………………………18 30 — 48
TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)
Durand (14-16-15-56) A. Schlosser 2-9-3-19, S. Baier 4-4-1-15, E. Annis 4-0-1-11, B. Hass 1-1-3-3, E. Hansen, H. Prissel 1-0-4-2.
Colfax (15-6-22-48) A. Dachel 0-0-5-0, A. Heidorn 1-0-5-5, S. Henricks 5-2-1-18, B. Buchanan 0-0-3-3, E. Hurlburt 5-0-2-10, M. Schleusner 1-0-3-2, K. Meredith 2-4-2-8, T. Irwin 1-0-1-2.
THREE-POINTERS D — A. Schlosser 2, S. Baier 1, E. Annis 1; C — A. Heidorn 1, S. Henricks 2, B. Buchanan 1.