Colby girls win in regular season finale

The Colby Hornets got 15 points from both Alexis Vanderhoof and Kylie Orth and survived a second half comeback from Spencer in their 5343 victory over the Rockets. The win was the Hornets third of their last five and jumped them to fifth place in the conference, finishing with a 5-9 record in the Cloverbelt-East.

Spencer may have gotten the first basket of the game, but it was all Colby in the opening minutes. The Hornets scored 12 unanswered following Spencer’s field goal, with Vanderhoof and Orth combining to score nine of those points. The Rockets struggled to generate offense early, having to find other options with their top offensive threat, Autumn Davis, unavailable to play.

The home team slowly worked their way back into the game, adjusting their offense to better suit Colby’s zone and having other players step up in the absence of Davis. The Hornets’ lead was cut to four after a basket from Spencer’s Alexis Mlsna made the score 17-13. Colby answered with a three from Orth, pushing back the Rockets’ first attempt to retake the lead. By halftime, the visitors found themselves holding a 26-19 advantage.

While Colby had controlled the opening minutes of the first half, it was the Rockets who held the upper hand in the beginning of the second period. Spencer quickly closed the gap, outscoring the Hornets 10-2 over the first six minutes of the second and taking their first lead since going up 2-0 to start the game.

Colby responded, getting a steal from Dakota Hoeper, who turned the turnover into a layup and allowed the Hornets to pull back ahead. The visitors drew their advantage back out to seven points, but Spencer bounced back once more, scoring ten straight points to go up 39-36 with just under four minutes to play.

The situation had started to look grim for the Hornets, who had failed to score for over six minutes. Vanderhoof stepped up when her team needed a basket, draining a three to end Colby’s scoring drought and knot the game up at 39-39. After forcing Spencer into a turnover, the Hornets got their second three in as many possessions, with Orth sinking another shot from beyond the arc to put Colby up 42-39. From there, the Hornets managed to pull ahead, finishing the game on a 11-4 run to win 53-43.

In addition to Vanderhoof and Orth putting up 15 point apiece, the Hornets got nine points from Hoeper, six from Hayden Willner and four from both Harrison Schmitt and Savana Thomsen.

Interestingly enough, the Hornets’ next two games will both be against the Regis Ramblers. Colby was paired with the Ramblers for the Cloverbelt- East/West crossover game, which will take place Thursday, Feb. 16 in Colby. The two teams are then set to collide in the first round of the WIAA playoffs, where the sixth-seeded Regis team is to host the 11th-seeded Hornets on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Regis is 6-8 in conference play and 10-12 overall, but will be coming into the matchup on a three game win streak. Finding a way to slow down 6’1” forward Ashley Chilson will be Colby’s first task on defense. The junior is averaging over 18 points per game this season and has scored 21 or more points over her last four games, including a 34-point performance in Regis’ win over Stanley-Boyd last week.

The crossover game on Thursday is to start at 7:15 p.m. and tipoff for the round one playoff game is set for 7:00 p.m.