Villisca gets the win over FM

VILLISCA — The Villisca Blue Jays defeated Fremont-Mills Tuesday night, 46-41, in their final game before the break.

Three Blue Jays finished with double-digit points, with two of them getting double-doubles.

Amanda Focht led the Blue Jays with 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting and 17 rebounds (seven offensive). Focht also had two steals and five blocks for the game.

Jill Vanderhoof had the other double-double for the game, finishing with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Morganne Haer also had 11 points in the game, to go along with five rebounds.

Mikayla Dolch scored eight points, while BreeAnn Fisher scored four.
Last Monday, the Blue Jays faced off against second-ranked in Class 1A Bedford. They lost to the Bulldogs, 65-44.

Villisca was only down 27-22 at halftime. However, a third quarter point explosion by Bedford gave them the lead.

The Bulldogs outscored Villisca, 27-8 during the third quarter. Bedford went on two 7-0 runs during the quarter.

“They started hitting their shots and we turned the ball over a few times,” Blue Jays Head Coach Donna Williams said. “I would have been happy to stay that close, but we turned the ball over too much and they started shooting.”

Bedford’s height proved to be a challenge for Villisca, especially in the press. Williams said Bedford is quick and has ran the press all season and they’ve been good at it.

“We needed to make that pass before that defense got up on us, or else we needed to put our head down and go in between,” Williams said.

The Blue Jays picked up their scoring in the fourth quarter, while only allowing 11 points on defense.

Focht led the way for the Blue Jays with 19 points on 9-for-14 shooting with eight rebounds (four offensive).

Focht scored 10 of those points in the first half.

Vanderhoof and Dolch each recorded six points. Vanderhoof had eight rebounds including five off the offensive glass.

Haer and Jenny King each had four points in the loss.

Williams said she was pleased with the team’s performance for the other three quarters.

“Running our offense, we were a little scared of running it all the way through in the first quarter or so, but then we got the hang of that, had a little more confidence as the game went on,” Williams said.

Villisca is now 8-1 for the season, remaining in first place in the Corner Conference.

Their next game won’t be until Jan. 9 when they host the Corning Red Raiders at home.

“I would like to see us working out the little turnovers there, or the mental errors and hopefully we can be more of a smooth team after Christmas,” Williams said.