Villisca gains the win over Stanton

The Villisca Blue Jays girls basketball team scored its biggest win of the week by defeating the Stanton Viqueens at home last Tuesday 56-38.

The key difference in the game was the third quarter as Villisca outscored Stanton 18-6.

Stanton scored a few points early, but Villisca would go on a 9-0 run, with points from Jill Vanderhoof and Mikayla Dolch, who scored eight during the quarter and finished with 10 points in the game.

“I knew that we needed, as guards, to step up,” Dolch said after the game. “They were putting additional pressure on Morganne [Haer], Jill and Amanda [Focht].”

Dolch had plenty of open looks during the second half and was able to capitalize and score points during that stretch.

“My Dad always tells me to shoot if I’m open, so I think it got in my head enough that I was open and I put up the open shot,” Dolch said.

The Blue Jays had a 45-28 lead at the end of three quarters and were able to maintain the lead in the final quarter.

Vanderhoof said she was surprised by how big of a lead the team was able to get during the game.

“I guess we played with such intensity the whole time that we felt like we were only up by three or four the whole game,” Vanderhoof said. “So we went out and played like it was almost tied.”

Both teams were close to start the game and each traded the lead. Villisca however pulled away and at one point led by six points in the first quarter.

Stanton was able to close the gap, but trailed 16-12 at the end of the quarter.

The Blue Jays took a seven-point lead during the second quarter, however Stanton closed the gap once again and got the Villisca lead down to four-points, courtesy of Carmen Subbert baskets, as well as a three-point play by Ragen Anderson.

Villisca held on and led 27-22 at halftime.

“We came out with confidence, we played pretty hard and coming out with the win was just a cherry on the top,” Vanderhoof said.

Haer was Villisca’s leading scorer as she posted 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting with three steals. Vanderhoof had 12 points, shooting 5-for-9 from the field, with eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Focht recorded a double-double in the game, scoring 11 points with 10 rebounds. Focht also had three assists, three steals and one block.

"That’s what we wanted,” Villisca Head Coach Donna Williams said about the double-digit scorers. “Would have loved to have had five, but having four is what we needed.”

Bree Ann Fisher also had a strong night as she scored seven points and had five rebounds for Villisca.

For Stanton, Subbert led the team in scoring with 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Subbert’s 14 rebounds gave the junior a double-double, her first this season.

Subbert was the only Stanton player with double-digit points in the game. Anderson scored eight points on 3-for-8 shooting.

Rachel Sorensen had six points and Sara Sederberg scored five.

Macy Elwood and Amber Hamilton both scored points off the bench for Stanton as Elwood had four and Hamilton two.

Both teams were able to pick up wins Friday night against their respective opponents.

Villisca defeated the Nishnabotna Blue Devils 57-47, while the Stanton Viqueens defeated the Essex Trojanettes 72-29.

Both teams will be in action this week before the holiday break.

Villisca and Stanton were both on the road Monday night. Villisca played Bedford, while Stanton faced Riverside. Results from both games weren’t available as of press time.

Tuesday night, both teams are in action on the road against conference opponents.

Villisca heads to Tabor to play Fremont-Mills, while Stanton will be playing Sidney.

Both teams wrap up the week at home Thursday night.

Villisca will be home to play Heartland Christian, while Stanton will host Fremont-Mills.