Colby girls battle Orioles in crossover

The Colby Hornets girls varsity basketball team wrapped up their regular season with the annual Cloverbelt Crossover on Thursday, taking a trip down Hwy. 29.

The Hornets found themselves squaring off against the Stanley-Boyd Orioles in the yearly battle between teams from the Eastern and Western Cloverbelt Conferences.

The Hornets had a tall task in front of them. Actually, it was two tall tasks in front of them, with the Orioles boasting the services of not one, but two players who stand nearly six feet tall.

Lily Hoel, a 5’11” forward got her team off to a quick start over the Hornets, dropping in shot after shot as she finished with a game high 25 points against Colby.

However, while Hoel was scoring at will against Hornets, Colby’s defense did an excellent job in stopping the majority of Hoel’s teammates, including fellow 5’11” forward Emee Felmlee.

The Hornets gave up just four points to Felmlee, and only one other Oriole, guard Leslie Derks, joined Hoel in double figures on Thursday, with 11 points. Unfortunately, Colby could not find the offense to keep pace with Hoel and Derks, and the Hornets walked into the locker room trailing Stanley-Boyd 32-17.

The Hornets picked up the pace in the second half, scoring 23 points, but Colby gave up another 37 points to drop their road game by a final score of 60-40. The loss moves the Hornet’s season record to 7-15.

One encouraging sign for second year head coach Terry Schmitt is the fact that nine different players scored against the Orioles.

Leading the way was senior guard Brett Schmitt with eight points. Fellow senior Kya Viegut added another seven points. Savana Thomsen and Alexis Vanderhoof both recorded six points. Kyli Orth pickd up five points, followed by Harrison Schmitt with three points.

Hayden Willner and Trisha Vanderhoof each tallied two points, and Angelique Hernandez rounded things out with on point.

The Hornets are guaranteed one more a WIAA D-4 quarterfinal regional match. The game was supposed to be played on Tuesday, Feb. 22, but was moved to Wednesday on account of a late bout of inclement weather. Colby will play Princeton/ Green Lake on the road for a chance to keep their season alive for at least one more game.