Decorah ends Charles City’s season in first round of girls basketball regional

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

DECORAH — When facing a heavily favored opponent that’s finding its rhythm offensively, you have to be careful that the game doesn’t get away from you.

Midway through Wednesday’s Class 4A-Region 2 girls basketball quarterfinal against hosting Decorah, the Charles City Comets were trying to prevent the game from running away from them.

That’s a reference to a running clock that gets employed once a team attains a 35-point advantage.

The Vikings flirted with setting the game off and running with a minute left in the first half with the score stuck on 39-6 with the Comets’ defense turning away three straight Decorah possessions before going into the locker room.

Charles City remained stubborn to start the second half, and even managed to cut into Decorah’s advantage before holding the Vikings to just 8 points in the third quarter.

But the Vikings have too many

weopons to contain for too long as they scored 23 points in the final eight minutes while cruising to the semifinals with a 70-15 win.

Senior Yazmeen Whitsitt became the Vikings’ all-time career scoring leader with her game-high 17 points.

Elizabeth Bucksa (13 pts.), Claire Storhoff (11 pts.) and Brynn Storhoff (10 pts.) added to the cause as Decorah (15-7) advances to play at Western Dubuque (16-6) in Saturday’s semifinal.

In their final basketball game of their Comet careers, Maggie Boss and Madison Lensing each scored 6 points.

Seniors Lauren Staudt and Alex Wohlers each had a pair of steals, and senior Hannah Hoffman and junior Mya Rimrod each had five rebounds for Charles City (2-20).

Girls Basketball Class 4A-Region 2 Quarterfinal

DECORAH 70, CHARLES CITY 15

Scoring By Quarters

Charles City 4 2 5 4 — 15

Decorah 19 20 8 23 — 70

Individual Scoring

CHARLES CITY — Madison Lensing 6, Lauren Staudt 1, Maggie Boss 6, Alex Wohlers 2.

DECORAH — Yazmeen Whitsitt 17, Gabrielle Dixon 3, Brynn Storhoff 10, Claire Storhoff 11, Renae Wilson 7, Sydney Thompson 9, Elizabeth Bucksa 13.

RECORDS — Decorah 15-7, Charles City 2-20