Warden hands Colfax a win

WARDEN - Being a head coach isn't as easy as Todd Kisler thought.

The new interim head coach for the Warden girls basketball team was handed his second loss in a row since taking over the team on Saturday. This time, No. 6 Colfax took care of the Cougars' mistakes for a 42-32 win.

"I used to not be a very fired up person, but they got me pretty fired up by not taking care of the ball," Kisler said. "If they wanted a fired up coach, they got one."

But it wasn't until the second half that the Bulldogs were able to capitalize off Warden. Colfax was called for a traveling violation to start the game, after which, the Cougars went on a 7-2 run.

Dana Bates, who scored 18 points in the game and hauled in 12 rebounds, scored the first basket for the Cougars, followed by a 3-pointer from Ashton Stott at the top of the key.

In the second quarter, Stott hit another 3 to extend the Warden lead to 14-9 and finished the quarter on a fastbreak basket to keep the lead for the Cougars at 16-13 heading into halftime.

After halftime, Colfax went on a 7-4 run to tie the game at 20-20 and Warden lost the lead at 28-26 after a spin move by Kylie Shaw, who finished with four points in the game.

"Colfax made some adjustments that caught me off guard and being a new coach, I am learning as I go," Kisler said.

The Bulldogs continued to repress the Warden offense through turnovers on their pressure defense to build a 34-28 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Then the Cougars went cold from the field and didn't score a point until 4:28 in the fourth quarter when Bates scored on a fastbreak opportunity. Bates put in two free throws for the final points of the game as Colfax took the win at 42-32.

Warden shot 13 of 40 from the field compared to the Bulldogs' 18 of 45 shooting.

"This just proves you need to take care of the ball and not have too many turnovers," Kisler said. "I told them not to hang their heads because a loss is a loss and it doesn't hurt us in league."

Colfax 42, Warden 32

Colfax (42) - Teade 4, Largent 4, Burns 17, Mellor 2, Dennison 6, Shaw 4. Warden (32) - Bates 18, Stott 8, Pixton 4, Yamane 2.