It was a split in Kalona Thursday night when the Columbus Wildcats visited the Hillcrest Ravens on the basketball floor. The girls contest went the ‘Cats way 41-33. A 6-0 run for the Columbus in the first quarter gave them an 11-6 lead after one. They were still up 19-15 at the half. The third quarter featured an 8-0 Columbus run and the Wildcats stretched the lead to 35-24 going to the fourth. Columbus did enough down the stretch to hold the Ravens at bay. After the contest, Columbus head coach Kasey Keltner talked about his highlights and key players from the team’s second victory of the year. “Libby White, everyday she brings it. She’s a great leader for us, a great communicator and locker room presence. She’s someone that you have to have in your program to get better. Tonight she was excellent. Ariana Vergara and Frannie Sosa came in tonight and gave us great effort and hustle. (Vergara) knocked down a couple of shots which was big and some free throws. Lily Coil was good, knocking some shots down and getting confident offensively and going to the glass. Sera Vela is our calming presence offensively. She handles the ball, she’s strong and she’s great defensively with her quickness.”
Columbus put a pair in double figures with Libby White collecting a 13 point, 10 rebound double double. Lily Coil added 11 points and Aracely Garza had a dozen rebounds. Esther Hughes led the Raven effort with 20 points. The Wildcats outrebounded the Ravens by 15 and forced 19 Hillcrest turnovers. Columbus is now 2-5 this season and the Ravens are 0-6.
The boys contest featured an early Raven run that put things out of reach en route to a 74-37 win for Hillcrest. Columbus started the game with back to back three point goals, only to see Hillcrest answer with a 29-2 run that spanned portions of the first and second quarters, highlighted by a half court buzzer beating jumper at the end of the first for Grant Bender. The score stood at 41-22 at half. Out of the break, Hillcrest won the second half 33-15 to close things out. After the game, Hillcrest head coach Dwight Gingerich broke down his team’s play. “The rotation was a little bit different with Jace Rempel out in concussion protocol but it was good to see him back in attendance tonight and making strides. Seth Ours stepped into that starting spot. As a freshman he just keeps getting better. He was already helping us in a good roll off the bench. You can see the athleticism in him and it’s fun to watch. Josiah Beachy came in and gave us solid minutes. Noah Miller had a strong floor game, pushed the break defended well. As did Luke Schrock and he does a great job rebounding the ball. Grant Bender wasn’t feeling 100% tonight, but he came out and played well leading us in scoring. When I start to mention all of those guys you can tell it was really a collective effort.”
Hillcrest beat the Wildcats on the glass by 15 and won the turnover battle 24-6. Three Ravens found double figures with this week’s JET Physical Therapy Athlete of the Week Grant Bender posting a game high 23 points. Luke Schrock had 11 and Seth Ours 10. Columbus was paced by Oscar Alcala and Timothy Hills-Carrer each with 12 points. Hillcrest is now 3-1 on the season, Columbus drops to 1-3. The win also marks the 699th victory of Dwight Gingerich’s career. He will be back on the sidelines shooting for his milestone 700th win Saturday afternoon when the Ravens host Rivermont Collegiate.