The Columbus Wildcats earned another girls’ basketball win last night by taking down Louisa-Muscatine 47-19. Columbus jumped out to a 19-5 lead by the end of the first quarter and stretched their advantage to 20 points by halftime.

Ariana Vergara had a game-high 18 points for Columbus, while fellow senior Lily Coil scored 14 points to help the Wildcats improve to 8-1 in the North division of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference and 10-2 overall.

The Columbus boys would not have the same good fortune, falling to Louisa-Muscatine 70-62. A six-point deficit for the Wildcats grew to a 15-point margin by the half, and the Falcons would be up by as much as 27 going into the fourth quarter. Columbus tried to rally, finishing the game on a 32-13 run, but they could not come all the way back.

Sophomore Ellis Hills-Carrier led the ‘Cats by scoring 16 points, while Juan Chairez had 12 points and fellow senior Ryan Coil finished with 10. A loss drops Columbus to 4-7, including a 2-6 record in the Super Conference North.

Both Wildcat teams next play Friday at home against Lone Tree. You can catch both Columbus teams in action with the KCII Area Game of the Week, starting with pregame Friday evening at 5:30 exclusively streaming on KCIIradio.com.