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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic girls basketball team came out firing and never let up, using a pressure defense and hot 3-point shooting to blow past Spencer 57-28 in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division matchup Thursday night at Columbus Catholic High School.
The Dons forced 28 turnovers, made 11 of 21 3-point attempts and shutout Spencer in both the second and fourth quarters on their way to the 29-point win. Columbus Catholic improves to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the Cloverbelt East. Spencer is left still searching for its first win, falling to 0-3 and 0-2 in the conference.
“We’re small, we know can shoot the ball from the outside and when we’re open we know we’re going to knock them down,” Columbus Catholic coach Bryan DeVries said. “We run quite a few sets to get those looks and fortunately tonight for us they were going in.”
Spencer used a 9-1 run over the final 2:48 of the first quarter to take a 13-12 lead despite three 3-pointers from the Dons.
Sydney Kind scored five points in the run to put the Rockets ahead. However, they could not maintain their hot start.
Columbus outscored the Rockets 17-0 in the second quarter as Spencer turned the ball over on each of its final eight possessions of the half.
Jessica Trad had 11 of her game-high 21 points in the second quarter for the Dons, including a pair of 3-pointers and Columbus led 29-13 at the half.
“Based on our size, we’re going to have to play a full-court game most of the time,” DeVries said. “We’re 4-2, we’ve had our ups and downs and haven’t played our best yet. We’re real happy with the way things are going. They gelled tonight and it was really fun to watch.”
Abby Baierl had a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter as the Dons made their first five shots from long range in the period. Natalie Pospyhalla had a 3-pointer to push Columbus’ lead to 48-23 with 1:50 to go.
Kallie Reckner hit a 3-pointer and another hoop to bring the Rockets to within 20, but again they couldn’t score in the fourth quarter as they missed all 12 shot attempts.
“We’re seeing some things late and we’re still trying to fit it in there,” Spencer coach Brian Abel said. “That’s the way it goes when you have an inexperienced varsity team. We’re young, we’re growing. Every game, we’re just trying to learn.”
Abby Baierl finished with 16 to go with Trad’s 21, and each made five 3-pointers for the Dons in the win. Reckner led Spencer with 10 points.
Spencer hosts Owen-Withee on Friday night, while Columbus is off until next Tuesday when it plays at Loyal.
Dons 57, Rockets 28
Spencer 13 0 15 0 – 28
Columbus Catholic 12 17 19 9 – 57
SPENCER (28): Courtney Buss 2-4 1-2 5, Macie Weber 1-2 0-0 2, Nadia King 0-3 0-2 0, Kallie Reckner 4-7 0-0 10, Cinnamin Harwood 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Becker 0-0 0-0 0, Liz Endreas 1-1 0-1 2, Katie Fleischman 0-1 0-0 0, Katlynne Walter 0-1 0-0 0, Lexi Baehr 0-6 0-0 0, Abby Varsho 1-2 0-2 2, Sydney Kind 2-9 0-0 5, Melissa Lehman 1-1 0-0 2. FG: 12-37. FT: 1-8. 3-pointers: 3-15 (Reckner 2-4, Kind 1-7, Baehr 0-4). Rebounds: 26 (Varsho 5). Turnovers: 28. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 0-3, 0-2 Cloverbelt Conference East Division.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (57): Meena Thill 0-0 0-1 0, Alexandra Hutchison 1-4 3-4 6, Alishia Reigel 0-2 0-0 0, Kendra Baierl 1-2 0-2 2, Jessica Trad 7-13 2-4 21, Abby Baierl 6-10 0-0 17, Natalie Pospyhalla 1-1 2-2 5, Hannah Stratman 1-5 0-0 2, Tara Brock 2-2 1-5 5. FG: 19-39. FT: 8-18. 3-pointers: 11-21 (A. Baierl 5-8, Trad 5-7, Pospyhalla 1-1, Stratman 0-3, Hutchison 0-2). Rebounds: 22 (Brock 9). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Record: 4-2, 2-0 Cloverbelt East.