Hornets turn tables on Blackhawks, sunk by Pirates
The Colby Hornets girls basketball squad got a nice slice of revenge last week, defeating the Owen-Withee Blackhawks for a road win on Jan. 20.
Making the victory even sweeter was the fact the Blackhawks had overcome a Colby challenge several weeks before. In that game the Hornets had let the Blackhawks storm back from a double digit deficit to hand Colby a 59-54 loss in early December.
The Hornets seemed to have learned their lesson since their last meeting, and on Thursday it was Colby handing Owen-Withee a loss on the Blackhawk’s home court.
Colby head coach Terry Schmitt says his players knew they could compete with Owen-Withee after their first meeting. Schmitt says the energy and the focus were there from the very first minute. “That game we came out and we had a lot more energy in that game,” Schmitt said. “We figured out what they were trying to do to break our press and worked the ball really in that game on offense.”
The Hornets were able to move the ball around and find open shooters, and none did a better job of canning the ball than senior guard Brett Schmitt.
“We did some great passing and finding open people and had some wonderful shooting,” Schmitt said after the game. “Brett was shooting threes and all around the girls played awesome that night.”
Schmitt scored 14 of her game high 16 points in the first frame. Alexis Vanderhoof draied a trey and Savana Thomsen added five points to give the Hornets a 2718 advantage going into the locker room.
The Blackhawks settled into the game in the second half, and were hoping for another Colby collapse, but the Hornets refused to let that happen.
Schmitt continued to get her shots, but Thomsen was the story of the second half, pulling down rebounds and getting to the charity stripe or finishing in the paint. Thomsen scored eight points to join Schmitt in double figures with 11 points.
Colby’s defense remained solid, allowing just one player from Owen-Withee to score in double figures. The Hornets made baskets when they needed them, and went on to out-score their Eastern Cloverbelt rivals 24-22 in the second half for a 51-40 victory, the fifth of the year for the Hornets.
Hayden Willner added nine points in the win, and Kya Viegut tallied eight points. Vanderhoof had five points and Kylie Orth and Harrison Schmitt each finished with one point.
69-43
Colby head coach Terry Schmitt didn’t want to blame the weather, but the cold temps outside certainly seemed to lead to cold shooting indoors on Tuesday night.
“We’re battling through a few things and we’re missing a couple of contributors on offense tonight,” Schmitt said. “I thought the energy, I don’t know if it’s the cold weather, but it was another game where we don’t show up with energy we don’t have success.”
The Hornets struggled to get shots to fall for long stretches while their Eastern Cloverbelt rivals from Gilman put on a three point shooting clinic in Colby.
The Pirates knocked down threes from nearly every spot on the arc, and an early 6-2 Colby lead in the opening minutes of the first half quickly evaporated.
Madisyn James buried five triples in the first frame as she finished with a game high 18 points. Tatum Weir aded another 17 points and the Hornets found themselves playing catch-up the rest of the way, trailing 38-20 at the break.
The Hornets were sharper in the second half,feedingfreshmanSavanaThomsen in the post. Senior Brett Schmitt and junior Hayden Willner brought the intensity on defense.
“I can’t say enough about Hayden. She is fighting and running her tail off. She has really stepped up as a leader this year and I loved her performance tonight. She doesn’t quit, she just keeps going and keeps coming at her opponents.”
Senior Kya Viegut supplied some needed offense, as both she and Schmitt finished with 11 points apiece.
The Hornets scored 23 points in the second half, but could not overcome their first half deficit and Gilman’s continued hot shooting, falling 69-43, and seeing their record dip to 4-7 in conference action and 5-11 overall.
Willner added eight points, Thomsen scored six, and Trisha Vanderhoof had two points. The Hornets return to action on Friday with a road game against Greenwood. Tip-off is at 7:15 p.m.
NO LOOK PASS - Olivia Krausemakes a quick pass during the Hornets conference game with Gilman on Tuesday.
