Colby girls lose two, streak grows to nine

The Colby Hornets girls basketball team continued to search for answers amid a prolonged losing streak, falling to Cloverbelt-East conference leader Neillsville and the Marathon Red Raiders over the past week. The two loses dropped the team to 1-9 on the season.

49-34

There were opportunities for the Hornets to grab their first win since their opener in Tuesday night’s matchup against Marathon, but the Red Raiders’ defense made things difficult for Colby’s offensive halfcourt sets in the second period and they could not keep up with their Marawood-South foes, losing 49-34.

A low scoring start to the game favored the Hornets. With under six minutes to play in the first half, only 22 combined points had been scored, with Colby holding a 13-9 lead. Defense and a grinding, aggressive style of play certainly played to the home team’s strengths, resulting in the four-point lead they had built.

That lead would not be enough to hold back a rush of scoring from Marathon. Red Raiders seemed to find something offensively late in the period, going on a 12-2 run over the final six minutes of game time. After holding the lead for much of the beginning of the game, Colby headed into halftime down 21-15.

The Hornets would make a push for the lead early in second half, which looked similar to opening sequences of the first period. Colby largely matched Marathon over the first four minutes, bringing the lead down to four after Hayden Willner’s stealturned- basket brought the score to 27-23. The play prompted a timeout from Marathon, a move that seemed to work wonders in hindsight.

Coming out of the timeout, Marathon went on a 13-1 run, fueled by tough defense and transition baskets from the Red Raiders. Over the ten minutes of the run, Colby saw their offense fail to score a field goal, the sole point coming from a Dakota Hoeper free throw.

While the Hornets scored 10 points over the final four minutes of the game, it was not enough make up for the long scoring drought through the middle part of the period, leaving the home team on the short end of a 49-34 final.

No Hornet had double digit points in the contest, with Angelique Hernandez leading Colby in scoring, finishing the game with nine points. Four players scored five points, those being Willner, Hoeper, Alexis Vanderhoof and Harrison Schmitt. Savana Thomsen contributed four points and Hannah Trush rounded out the scoring for the Hornets with one.

74-33

The Hornets fell to the defending Cloverbelt-East champions, the Neillsville Warriors, in a makeup game last Friday evening. The visitors cruised past Colby, scoring 57 points in the first half enroute to their 74-33 victory.

Heading into the game, the two Cloverbelt-East teams could not have had more opposite trajectories. Neillsville is thus far undefeated this season, beating each of their opponents by more than 25 points, with their last victory being a 71-29 win over Alma Center Lincoln. Meanwhile, after winning their first game of the season against Greenwood, Colby has yet to claim another, coming into the matchup with the Warriors on a seven-game losing streak. The odds certainly seemed stacked against the Hornets, with Neillsville serving as the worst possible opponent for a “get-right” game in the conference.

Inclement weather saw the game that was scheduled for last Thursday instead shifted to Friday, but the change in date seemed to do little to faze the visiting Warriors.

Neillsville jumped out to a 7-0 lead, though neither team looked particularly sharp on the offensive end early. Kylie Orth hit a three to score the Hornets first points, but the fourpoint deficit was all the closer Colby would get in the contest.

Following Orth’s basket, the Warriors went on an 11-0 run over the next three minutes of game time, putting the home team in a 18-3 hole. Harrison Schmitt ended the scoring drought with Colby’s second three of the evening, but the tone for the game had largely been set.

Neillsville’s Paris Opelt threepointer with just under six minutes left to play started a 28-8 run for the visitors during the half’s closing moments. The Warriors followed Opelt’s lead and continued to connect from beyond the arc during this run, taking advantage of the holes in Colby’s 1-3-1 defense to find open shots from deep.

Scoring for both teams fell in the second half, with the Hornets still struggling to find holes in Neillsville’s zone and Colby switching to man-to-man, cutting down on the amount of open three-point shots available for the Warriors. In a more defensive game, the Hornets were largely able to keep up with their opponents, but the damage had already been done. While they were only outscored 17-14 in the second half, Colby still lost by more than 40 points due to the large advantage Neillsville had taken in the first half.

Colby will look to get their second win of the season at a two-day tournament held in Wautoma over winter break. The team will have numerous opportunities to do so over the Dec. 27 and 28 tournament.

Their next regular season game is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 5. The Hornets will be playing host to the Spencer Rockets, who are 2-6 overall. The Rockets are led on offense by Autumn Davis, who averages over 15 points per game. The game is set for a 7:15 p.m. start.

PASSING IS KEY -Angelique Hernandez looks for an open teammate as the defense collapses.STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD