Columbus Catholic girls basketball finishes strong, beats Loyal in home finale

Columbus Catholic's Deanna Kaiser takes on a pair of Loyal defenders during the Dons' win on Monday night at Columbus Catholic High School. (Photo by Paul Lecker/MarshfieldAreaSports.com)

This story is sponsored by Dental Clinic of Marshfield

By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com

MARSHFIELD – After surrendering a 10-point lead, the Marshfield Columbus Catholic girls basketball team could have easily went away at the end of its Cloverbelt Conference East Division game against Loyal on Monday night.

Instead, the Dons responded.

Columbus ended the game on a 19-3 run, including 8-0 during the final 2:23, to blow past the Greyhounds 51-41 on Senior Night at Columbus Catholic High School.

The win ends a five-game losing streak for the Dons (6-13, 5-11 Cloverbelt East), who will play in a Cloverbelt Crossover game against a team yet to be determined on Friday. Loyal falls to 7-12 and ends the Cloverbelt East season at 4-12.

“I thought our defense wore them out,” Columbus coach Darin Green said. “I thought if we kept pushing the ball, and we didn’t do a really good job of it, that we would be able to run them down a little bit and get them tired and get some easy buckets off of it.

The win was especially important for Columbus Catholic, which plays at Loyal in a WIAA Division 5 regional quarterfinal on March 8.

“It makes you feel a little bit better of what you can and can’t do with them,” Green said. “It should be a fun one next Tuesday.”

Columbus closed the first quarter on a 13-0 run to take an 18-8 lead. Elizabeth Manlick had a pair of three-point plays and another hoop over the final 1:03 to push the Dons’ lead to 10.

Loyal cut its deficit to five at 26-21 by halftime, then surged ahead in the third quarter behind the outside shooting of Kahri Rueth.

Rueth scored 11 straight points – two free throws and three 3-pointers in a row – to erase the Dons’ 32-27 lead and turn it into a 38-32 advantage for Loyal.

As suddenly as the Greyhounds, and more specifically Rueth, got hot, they turned cold.

Kayla Selz and Manlick added baskets in the final 21 seconds of the third quarter, and after Rueth hit a free throw with 7:07 to go in the fourth, the Dons scored seven straight points to pull ahead for good.

Selz banked in a 3-pointer to start the run and help Columbus open up a 43-39 lead.

Kelsey Happe ended the run for Loyal, but Loyal turned the ball over on its next four possessions and Columbus closed the game with an 8-0 run.

“When we got a little bit of a lead, they were really trying to do some things and we were able to play some solid defense and keep (Kahri Rueth) from knocking 800 3s on us,” Green said. “We were able to bring the ball up and find some layups. We can play like that if they keep their heads up, keep composure and don’t get frustrated.”

Manlick ended the game with 16 points and Weister added 13 for the Dons. Rueth finished with 21 points for Loyal.

Dons 51, Greyhounds 41
Loyal 8 13 17 3 – 41
Columbus 18 8 10 15 – 51
LOYAL (41):
Megan Roedel 0-0 0-0 0, Jordyn Pieper 1-5 0-0 3, Kahri Rueth 7-13 3-4 21, Karissa Rueth 2-4 1-2 5, Jennah Fulwiler 2-3 0-0 4, Kelsey Happe 1-4 2-2 4, Sarah Weyer 0-5 0-0 0, Caitlyn Weinfurtner 1-5 2-2 4. FG: 14-39. FT: 8-10. 3-pointers: 5-11 (Kah. Rueth 4-6, Pieper 1-3, Weyer 0-1, Weinfurtner 0-1). Rebounds: 24 (Weinfurtner 8). Turnvoers: 15. Total fouls: 12. Fouled out: Kar. Rueth. Record: 7-12, 4-12 Cloverbelt East.
COLUMBUS (51): Deanna Kaiser 1-5 2-4 4, Elizabeth Manlick 6-9 4-4 16, Taylor Weister 6-8 1-2 13, Lindsey Brandt 1-5 0-0 2, Kayla Selz 2-6 0-0 5, Mariah Heiman 0-0 0-0 0, Angie Seubert 3-4 2-3 8, Abby Gotz 1-2 0-1 3, Nikki Hertel 0-0 0-0 0. FT: 20-38. FT: 9-15. 3-pointers: 2-6 (Selz 1-2, Gotz 1-2, Brandt 0-2). Rebounds: 21 (Kaiser 5, Manlick 5). Turnovers: 12. Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 6-13, 5-11 Cloverbelt East.