Baxter girls make 16 treys in win over Colfax-Mingo

COLFAX — The all-time leading scorer for the Baxter girls’ basketball team led the Bolts to a season high in points on Friday during a non-conference road win over Colfax-Mingo.

The Bolts are shooting only 24 percent from 3-point range this season but made 16-of-29 to spoil the Tigerhawks’ Senior Night during a 64-18 win.

“That’s what we are used to. That’s our standard,” Baxter girls head basketball coach Kyle Krampe said. “That’s what we will continue to work to get back to.”

Baxter made more shots from downtown than it did from inside the 3-point line. And the team’s best player, Emie Tuhn, led the way with an 8-of-13 performance.

Karlee Koehler returned to the Bolts’ starting lineup and got the team off to a strong start when she made her first two shots from the floor — both 3s.

Denver Sulzle added a trey to put the Bolts up 11-2 and then Tuhn canned a pair of triples later.

Baxter led 20-4 after one quarter as the Tigerhawks got buckets from Katelyn Steenhoek and Mallory Sipma.

Tuhn opened the second with another 3 and Sulzle drained back-to-back treys to push the advantage to 29-4.

“They’ve come a long ways. They’ve done a nice job of keeping their heads up and working hard,” Colfax-Mingo head girls basketball coach Phil Grant said. “We started flat tonight. I know we had four games in five days, but you still have to bring the energy. I thought the second half was better.”

Tuhn scored 10 of her game-high 31 points in the second. Sulzle made another 3 and was fouled later in the quarter as the Bolts led 44-6 at halftime.

Dakota Allen started the third with a bucket and then Steenhoek answered a Sulzle 3 to make it 47-11. Tuhn connected on three treys in the frame before Dove Lopez got the crowd on their feet following a shot from long range on her Senior Night.

“We talked about it beforehand,” Grant said. “She passed one up in a recent game. She caught it and shot faked and then said she should have shot it. I told her she was open so take it. Then when she shot it tonight, I was like ‘just go in.’”

Baxter outscored the Tigerhawks 12-10 in the third and led 56-16. The Bolts won the fourth 8-2 as Tuhn made two more triples to cap her big night.

Tuhn finished with 31 points, seven assists and five steals. She now has a school-record 855 career points.

Sulzle scored a career-high 17 points on 5-of-6 from 3-point range. Koehler’s first game in about a month featured six points and seven assists and Kendall Brummel finished with six points, six rebounds and six steals.

Lydia Pierce swiped two steals and Avery Wonders grabbed three rebounds.

The Bolts shot 52.4 percent from the floor, made 16-of-29 from 3 and connected on 4-of-8 from the free-throw line. Baxter was out-rebounded by the Tigerhawks 20-13.

“I thought they did an excellent job,” Krampe said. “You still have to make shots even if you’re open and I thought we did a good job with that.”

Steenhoek led the Tigerhawks (0-20) with nine points, four rebounds and three assists.

Allen collected four points, three rebounds and two steals, Lopez chipped in three points, two assists and two steals and Sipma grabbed two boards and three steals.

Brooklyn Yanske, Macie Porter and Lexie Aller all grabbed two rebounds.

Colfax-Mingo shot 44.4 percent from the floor, made 2-of-4 from 3 and turned the ball over 36 times against Baxter’s full-court press.

“We want to get back to pressing. That looked good,” Krampe said. “It’s a good game to build momentum as we get to the end of the season and see if we can compete on Thursday.”