Fast start propels CMB girls past Colfax-Mingo

BAXTER — Over the past two games, the Collins-Maxwell/Baxter girls’ basketball team has made 15 of its 30 attempts from 3-point range.

And that success has led the Raiders to back-to-back wins.

Six of those 15 shots from long range came against Colfax-Mingo on Tuesday as the Raiders jumped out to an early lead and then put the game away with four long balls in the second quarter during a 52-25 victory over the Tigerhawks on Senior Night.

Bridget Hurley set the pace for the Raiders, finishing with three 3-pointers and 13 points as three players hit double-digits for second game in a row.

“The 3-point shots are big, but we can’t fall in love with it,” Zabel said. “We still need to go inside-out. We got some nice things in the post tonight, but I would like to see us to get them involved earlier in the game.”

The Raiders scored the first six points of the game and led 10-3 after one quarter.
In the second period, Hurley and Brianda Bane both hit a pair of treys to help give CMB a 28-11 edge at the break.

“We have to have at least three players in double figures for us to have a chance to win,” said CMB senior Lexi Breon, who finished with 11 points and four steals. “Tonight, Bridget stepped up as a leader. It was a rough night for a little bit, but we finally found a rhythm and got things going.”

Breon, who was recognized with Mackenzie Schmitz for Senior Night after the game, hit a 3-pointer late in the third and that gave the Raiders a 39-17 lead heading into the final 8 minutes. Hurley quickly made it 42-17 when she began the fourth with a trey and the 25-point lead allowed Zabel to give his starters some much needed rest.

Zabel took out most of his starters during a long stretch in the third and then put them on the bench for good later in the fourth.

“Experience is definitely important. We played two freshmen tonight and got some sophomores into the game,” Zabel said. “It also allows me to rest the starters, which we need right now.”

Bane finished with 10 points, four rebounds and five assists, and Hurley pulled down a team-high six rebounds and collected four steals in the win.

The Raiders (4-15 overall, 4-12 in the HOIAC) now has its second two-game win streak of the season. All four wins have come against Colfax-Mingo and South Hamilton.

For the Tigerhawks (0-18, 0-16), the trouble continues to be with turnovers at the offensive end of the floor. But CMB also dominated the boards, too.

“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have practice last night,” Colfax-Mingo coach Michelle Grant said. “There were some things that we didn’t do well Friday night that we would have worked on last night. That would have helped us.

“Offensively, we did a nice job of getting good looks. The shots just didn’t fall. It just didn’t go our way tonight.”

McKeely Tjaden and Dakota Hostetter both had six points to lead the Tigerhawks. Reagan Nichol and Alivia Haley added four each.

Notebook

Colfax-Mingo assistant coach Jacob Crouse is a 2005 graduate of Collins-Maxwell High School. … Both squads hit the road Friday. CMB heads to Roland-Story to face the Norsemen, while Colfax-Mingo travels to Gilbert.

C-M 3-8-6-8—25
CMB 10-18-11-13—52
C-M (FG/3pt) — Haley 1-2-2-4, Moore 1-0-3-2, Tjaden 2-2-3-6, Lahart 1-0-1-1, Hostetter 2-2-2-6, Nichol 2-0-1-4, Colville 1-0-1-2. TOTALS 9-7-12-25.
CMB (FG/3pt) — Schmitz 2-0-3-4, Hurley 4/3-2-1-13, Larson 4-0-2-8, Bane 4/2-0-1-10, Breon 5/1-0-0-11, Ziesman 0-1-0-1, Baldwin 0-1-1-1, Ritter 1-0-1-2, Eslinger 1-0-1-2. TOTALS 21/6-4-10-52.