Columbus Dons boys, girls teams heading in opposite directions
By Hub City Times staff
MARSHFIELD — The Columbus Dons’ girls and boys basketball teams are going in opposite directions.
While the Dons girls are reeling, the Dons boys improved to 10-0 on Jan. 4, with a win at Greenwood 88-53.
“I thought our boys played really hard”, Columbus Head Coach Joe Konieczny said after the game. “We hadn’t had a game in over two weeks, so a little rust maybe to work off early, but we jumped up to a 15-0 lead. Having Ethan Meece back is very, very beneficial to our team, just with his length and athleticism. I thought (Bryce) Fuerlinger played great. (Noah)Taylor, (Jarred) Mandel, (Kellen) Heinzen–everybody that played — all 14 — contributed and played hard. Obviously in a game like that where we have a really large lead in the first half, it’s nice to get 14 guys playing time.”
Fuerlinger led Columbus Catholic with 20 points. Mandel added 11, and now has 663 for his Columbus career. Meece and Eden Jacobson each had 10 for the Dons.
Cooper Bredlau led Greenwood with 14 and Westen Schmitz chipped in 12. The Dons improved their conference record to 6-0. Greenwood’s overall record fell to 1-8, and the Indians are now 1-5 in conference competition.
The Columbus girls, meanwhile, lost to Neillsville 47-19 on Jan. 3. Columbus scored just three points in the first half. Columbus was outscored 20-16 in the second half. Hailey Roehl led the Dons with eight points, including two three-pointers. Addie Bairel added four. Neillsville was led by Jaden Barth with 12. Kelly Barth added 11 for the Warriors. Columbus dropped to 8-5 overall, and 3-4 in the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference.
The Columbus girls host Spencer on Jan. 11. The Dons boys host Loyal Jan. 10, then play at Neillsville Jan. 15.