This story is sponsored by Forward Bank
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic girls basketball team was playing without two starters and a slow start becoming acclimated to a new lineup proved costly.
Loyal raced out to a nine-point lead in the first 7½ minutes, held Columbus scoreless for the final 8:44 of the opening half and cruised to a 49-31 victory in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division game Thursday night at Columbus Catholic High School.
Five different Greyhounds scored as they took a 12-4 lead early.
A 3-pointer by Hailey Zimmermann ended a five-minute stretch without a field goal for the Dons, but they were only to make one more shot in the first half and fell behind 22-9 at the break.
Columbus wasn’t able to make much of a run at the lead, but found some offensive consistency in the second half.
A quick 6-0 run sparked by a basket from Hailey Klumb and four points by Zimmermann helped Columbus climb to with 11, but that was as close as the Dons would get to the lead.
“It’s a big adjustment playing without two starters (Jenna Kibbel and Maggie Callaghan), or two of your top seven girls,” Columbus Catholic coach Ron Wilczek said. “Credit to Loyal, they were really aggressive in the first half and kind of got us on our heels. The girls didn’t quit, we kept on coming and coming, and it was a good learning experience.”
Zimmermann and Klumb each scored 12 points, but the rest of the team combined to go just 2-for-24 from the field.
Olivia Nikolai had 11 points and Alyssia Zvolena added 10 for Loyal, which is now 5-6 overall and 4-2 in the Cloverbelt East, climbing within one-half game of the Dons (7-7, 5-2 Cloverbelt East) for second place in the conference.
“We’re in second place in our league, we’ve played a really tough schedule and I thought we were really getting better,” Wilczek said. “Unfortunately these injuries kind of set us back, but it also gives a chance for some other girls to earn some minutes and we may need to count on them later in the season.”
Columbus Catholic plays at first-place and undefeated Neillsville (11-0, 7-0) on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.
Click here to view the Cloverbelt East girls basketball standings
Greyhounds 49, Dons 31
Loyal 22 27 – 49
Columbus Catholic 9 22 – 31
LOYAL (49): Alyssia Zvolena 3-10 4-4 10, Anna Lindner 1-2 0-0 2, Addysen Wolf 2-10 1-1 6, Peroshek 0-0 1-2 1, Autumn Zvolena 4-8 0-0 8, Sheila Tellock 3-7 0-0 7, Olivia Nikoai 5-8 0-0 11, Courtney Rakovec 2-2 0-0 4. FG: 20-47. FT: 6-7. 3-pointers: 3-14 (Nikolai 1-3, Wolf 1-4, Tellock 1-5, Al. Zvolena 0-1, Au. Zvolena 0-1). Rebounds: 28 (10 12). Turnovers: 21. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: none. Record: 5-6, 4-2 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (31): Emily Boyer 0-1 0-0 0, Cierra Dieringer 0-3 2-2 2, Sam Casperson 0-9 0-0 0, Callie Hanson 0-0 0-0 0, Mira Torbey 0-1 0-0 0, Gracie Wilczek 0-5 1-2 1, Hailey Zimmermann 4-12 2-2 12, Lily Stratman 2-4 0-0 4, Courtney Sommer 0-1 0-0 0, Hailey Klumb 5-9 2-6 12. FG: 11-45. FT: 7-12. 3-pointers: 2-13 (Zimmermann 2-7, Dieringer 0-2, Casperson 0-2, Wilczek 0-2). Rebounds: 31 (Zimmermann 7). Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: none. Record: 7-7, 5-2 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.