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Columbia High’s young girls basketball team continues to adjust after losing six seniors from the 2022-2023 squad, learning how to compete against more experienced opponents.
The Bruins (three freshmen, six sophomores) had a grueling schedule last week which had them playing a home game, followed by road game in a span of 18 hours. In addition, the Bruins played both games without their only upperclassman, junior Sheyenne Antis, nor freshman Kiera Bucher, who were on vacation. Antis and Bucher are often the leading scorers for the Bruins.
Columbia lost to visiting Class 3A Mountain View High 63-19 on Dec. 20, and 50-26 at Aberdeen less than 24 hours later.
Mountain View took control of the game early, building a 20-4 first quarter lead. The Bruins, guided by Coach Justin Frazier, had six players who scored, led by freshman Joella Posini with five points.
“Mountain View has a really good team, and all the girls played hard in the game,” said Frazier. “Since we have such a young team, they tend to make lots of mistakes that are correctable and as the season goes on, hopefully we’ll have fewer turnovers and mistakes.”
The Bruins then left White Salmon at 7:30 a.m. Dec. 21 for a three and a half-hour road trip north to Montesano High School to compete in the Winter Break Basketball Tournament Dec. 21-22. Columbia played a noon match up versus the Aberdeen High Bobcats (6-3) of the Class 2A Evergreen League.
A tired Bruins squad stayed close in the first quarter, trailing just 8-3 before the Bobcats built a 21-9 halftime margin.
“We had a little more competitive match up versus Aberdeen than we had against Mountain View,” said Frazier. “All the girls played hard against Aberdeen, especially Halle Kock (five points), who really played great defense. This is her first year of high school basketball and she’s really doing a pretty good job; she’s starting to figure things out.”
Sara Miller led the Bruins in scoring with nine points.
Frazier said: “We just need to get everybody back, because we’re missing kids who are on vacation, so when we come back to play our next game the day after New Year’s Day, then we’ll be at full strength again and be ready to play better,” said Frazier.
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