Reardan girls fall to Colfax, NWC

REARDAN-Five Colfax players scored in double figures as the state's number two ranked Bulldogs defeated the Screaming Eagles 59-18 in NE2B girls' action on Jan. 6.

Early on, Reardan looked as if they would challenge the 11-0 Bulldogs after hitting two quick treys and converting on three other shots. By the end of the first quarter, they faded as Colfax stepped up its defense and sank shots of their own. The quarter ended with Colfax leading 21-13.

From that point on, the Bulldogs dominated, allowing Reardan only five points for the rest of the game. The Screaming Eagles committed 25 turnovers compared to Colfax's 15.

Colfax extended its lead to 36-15 at the half and 53-15 at the end of the third quarter.

Jaisha Gibb ran the show for the Bulldogs by scoring 11 points and dishing out seven assists. In addition, she picked the Screaming Eagles' pockets with four steals.

"We came out really hard tonight and didn't let down," Gibb said. "Everyone got involved and everyone scored a bucket."

Besides Gibb, four other Bulldogs scored in double figures. Brynn McGaughy and Brenna Gilchrist each scored 12 points and Hailey Demler and Lauryn York scored 10 and 9 points, respectively.

McGaughy pulled down 10 rebounds and York grabbed seven more.

"It's not every night that Brynn (McGaughy) will be held to 12 points," Colfax assistant coach Elias Whitefoot said. "It helps us we have other scorers. When Brynn gets that much attention, our guards must make their outside shots, and that's what Gilchrist did. She played great."

Reardan played the game without one of its leading scorers, Tenice Waters. Midway through the third quarter, Reardan head coach Bob Swannack pulled his starters, allowing his younger players minutes and game experience.

Reardan was led in scoring by Liberty Anderson, Justine Flett and Liz Bell, each scoring five points. Eight graders Olivia Wicks and Raegan Soliday scored two and one points, respectively.

"They are just better than us right now," Swannack said. "We don't have the horses they have. Our girls play hard, and they want to be coached. We just have a lot of little things to work on. I'm going to hang my hat on the fact we held their two best scorers to 22 points."

The Screaming Eagles' lack of energy doomed them in their 51-21 defeat to Northwest Christian in their girls' basketball matchup on Tuesday, Jan. 10.

NWC held Reardan below eight points in each of the game's quarters.

At halftime, NWC led 27-12 behind the shooting of Paisley Cox, who scored nine points. Tenice Waters led Reardan with seven points.

NWC outscored Reardan 24-9 in the second half on its way to the 51-21 victory. Kaitlyn Waters led all scorers with 13 points. Three other Crusaders scored at least nine points.

Reardan's Tenice Waters ended the game with 10 points, seven rebounds and a blocked shot. Justine Flett scored four points and Emma Heinemann scored on a long-range three. Liz Bell and Kelsey Koch each scored two points.

"We came out low on energy and didn't play like ourselves," Reardan's Rylynn Green said. "No one really knows why. We weren't together as a team tonight."

Kassidy Koch agreed.

"I don't think we were mentally here tonight," she said. "We didn't run our offense or communicate on defense. We couldn't even pass the ball without getting a turnover."

"Tonight we came out already defeated," Heinemann said. "Coach did everything he could to get us going, but we didn't respond."

Green said that if the team is going to improve, they must be more cohesive. If they do that, they can achieve success.

With the win, NWC's improved its record to 5-2 in NE2B play. Reardan dropped to 3-4.