Colfax girls bag wins over NE lead teams

Colfax girls picked up wins over two of the top-tier teams on the home court over the weekend. The Bulldogs out-paced Liberty 44-40 in the Friday night league round, and they edged Northwest Christian 57-53 in a battle in the Saturday round.

Both foes arrived at Colfax with 9-1 record. The win over Liberty put Colfax in a tie for the lead in the NE-south action.

Colfax will finish the first lap of the NE-south this weekend with a Reardan slated to visit here Friday night and the Bulldogs booked to play Tekoa/Rosalia at Tekoa Saturday.

Friday against Liberty was feature night for Taylre Sakamoto-Howell. The The senior guard dropped five 3-point buckets on the Lancers and finished the night with 22 points, half the Colfax total for the night.

Colfax posted a 24-19 lead at the half, but Liberty erased the lead at the start of the third quarter. Taylre ignited the Bulldogs with a 3-pointer at 4:20 to tie the game at 27-27, and she hit another one to peg a 30-27 lead. She hit a third one and two foul shouts for a six point lead.

Liberty's Kendyl Fletcher hit five quick points, and Aleena Cook hit twice to keep the score on edge.

Colfax also had a slow start in the last quarter, but came back to lead 41-38 and went out of reach with a put back score in the final seconds.

Coach Corey Baerlocher credited the Colfax defense with containing Liberty ace Maisie Burnham who finished with 13 points.

The Bulldogs out-boarded Liberty 37-25 in the game.

Saturday, the battle with the Crusaders went down to the final quarter when the Bulldogs scored 20 points to run out a 39-37 lead.

Skylre Sakamoto-Howell had the feature card Saturday with 18 points, including three 3-pointers. Freshman Asher Cai hit 15.

Each hit seven in the final frame before Colfax took control in the final minutes.

Colfax 44-Liberty 40: 12/13 12/6 11/10 9/11: Shyah Antoine 2 0-0 4, Asher Cai 2 3-5 7, Taylre Sakamoto-Howell 6 (5 3pt) 5-6 22, Kierstyn York 3 5-6 11. Total 15 6-13 f-15 44. Liberty: Kendyl Fletcher 4 (2 3pt) 0-0 10, Delaney Goodwin 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Maisie Burnham 4 (3 pt) 4-9 13, Aleena Cook 6 2-4 14. Total 13 13-17 f-19 40

Colfax 57-Northwest Christian 53: S. Sakamoto-Howell 5 (3-3pt) 5-6 18, Kaitlin Cornish 1 0-0 2, Antoine 3 (3pt) 1-2 8, Cai 4 (3 pt) 6-7 15, T. Sakamoto-Howell 2 (both 3pt) 0-2 6, York 2 4-6 8. Total 17 16-23 f-10 57. Northwest Christian: Natalie Smith 2 (both 3pt) 1-2 7, Paige Dawson 6 2-4 14, Ellie Sander 4 1-3 9, Chiara Carey 3 0-0 6, Jordan Rabe 7 (3 pt ) 1-2 16, Haley Burns 0 1-2 1. Total 22 6-13 f-19 53.