Colby girls fall at home to Owen-Withee

The Hornet girls basketball squad dropped a close game at home against Owen-Withee last Friday evening. After holding what at times was a double-digit lead for most of the second-half, Colby couldn’t hold off the Blackhawks in the final minutes, losing 62-59.

A slow start for the Hornets and another game with late game struggles ultimately spelled the end for a Colby squad that once again showed flashes of potential. Despite missing top scorer Hayden Willner for much of the game due to foul trouble, the home team fought back from a large early deficit to take control during the middle portions of the game. Their press defense that transitioned in a 1-3-1 zone on the back end proved difficult for the Blackhawks to deal with at times, with the Hornets able to force their opponents into making mistakes in the front court.

However, Colby did not have many opportunities to set up in their ideal defense over the opening minutes of the Cloverbelt-East matchup. Owen-Withee opened the game fast, scoring almost immediately after the tip-off and continuing that momentum through the first three minutes of the game. The Blackhawks scored 14 consecutive points before Colby’s Angelique Hernandez was finally able to put the home team on the board with a three-point shot at the top of the arc.

The three-pointer not only stemmed the bleeding but also was the beginning of a 17-2 run by the Hornets over the next eight minutes of gametime. With the home team finally able to establish their press defense, the visiting Blackhawks saw their scoring dry up, allowing Colby to fight back into the game. A made free-throw from Kylie Orth gave the Hornets their first lead of the game, a lead that would only continue to grow as Owen-Withee’s offensive woes continued. The Blackhawks went nearly seven minutes between made field goals and after being down 14-0, the Hornets had an eight point lead with two minutes left in the first period. While that lead shrunk slightly to 3327 by halftime, the Hornets had long since stolen all of Owen-Withee’s early momentum.

The second half saw the Hornets maintaining that lead, though the visitors slowly but surely started closing the gap. After Colby opened up their largest lead of the game at 38-28 on a made free-throw by Savana Thomsen, Owen-Withee went on a 20-10 run to tie the game at 48-48. The Hornets battled back this first attempt at a comeback from the visitors, with Orth retaking the lead on a free-throw and Dakota Hoeper turning a steal into an easy layup immediately following the free-throw. Colby steadily rebuilt their lead, going up 57-48 with just under six minutes left to play.

Late game struggles had plagued the Hornets in their previous two losses and they once again ran into issues trying to close out the game on Friday. They would only score two points over the final six minutes, leaving the door wide open for their opponents. Owen-Withee took advantage, retaking the lead 60-58 with just under three minutes left in the game.

The Hornets opted to play tough defense rather than foul as the game moved into its final stages, which worked to an extent. While they were able to force Owen-Withee into a couple turnovers, Colby was unable to turn those into points on the opposite end and too much time was drained off the clock in between those opportunities. The result left the Hornets on the short end of a 62-59 final and saddled with their fourth loss of the season.

Hoeper led the Hornets with 16 points off the bench, her efforts on the defensive end turning into scoring opportunities. Orth had 14 over the course of the game and Hillary Feiten added eight, including two threes. Also scoring for the Hornets were Thomsen, who ended the game with seven, Hernandez and Willner with six each and Alexis Vanderhoof with two.