Stahl, Olympians shoot down Cougars

Saige Stahl

In taking care of Bloomington North Tuesday night, the Columbus East girls resorted to a little bit of “Stahl Ball.”

Not “Stall Ball,” as in holding the basketball. But “Stahl Ball” as in Saige Stahl balling out.

The Columbus East senior scored a career-high 37 points and led the Olympians with 11 rebounds and five steals in a 71-49 victory.

“I didn’t know I had 37,” Stahl said. “Just in the moment of the game, you don’t really keep up with it. You just play the game.”

Eight of Stahl’s rebounds were on the offensive glass, most of which led to putback baskets. She led East to a 26-17 advantage on the boards.

“This season, rebounding hasn’t been my best, so I wanted to come out this game and make it my thing,” Stahl said. “Rebounding leads to points. It was a focus.”

The Olympians (5-4) bulit a 17-7 lead after one quarter and led 34-19 at halftime. East led by as many as 20 midway through the third quarter before the Cougars (5-2) rallied to within 54-44 with 5:52 left in the game.

East then got two free throws from Stahl to jump-start a 15-0 run to put it away.

“I think their game plan was to come out and try to stop Saige and be as physical as they could, and it just didn’t work,” East coach Danny Brown said. “She’s so aggressive underneath, and she can get to the rim anytime she wants and is really good at drawing fouls.”

Leah Bachmann scored eight points for the Olympians. Allison Craig added seven.

“Tonight, I was just proud of everybody,” Brown said. “Everybody got in, and everybody contributed. If we play like we did tonight the next few games and in the conference coming up, we’re going to be hard to beat.”

Columbus East 71, Bloomington North 49

Bloomington North;7;12;18;12;—;49

Columbus East;17;17;18;19;—;71

Bloomington North (5-2): Jamie Lian 0 0-0 0, Avery Patterson 1 4-4 6, Mallory Barrow 1 3-4 5, Ava Reitmeyer 5 0-0 12, Mia Robbenolt 5 8-9 20, Ava Robbenolt 1 0-0 3. Totals: 14 15-17 49.

Columbus East (5-4): Jenna Guse 2 2-2 6, Kimberly Carothers 0 0-0 0, Victoria Cuhadar 1 0-0 3, Allison Craig 2 2-2 7, Maeleigh Roberts 2 0-0 6, Heidi Murphy 0 0-0 0, Saige Stahl 13 11-12 37, Brielle Stevens 0 0-0 0, Leah Bachmann 4 0-0 8, Messiah Trapp 1 2-3 4. Totals: 25 17-19 71.

3-point goals: Bloomington North 6 (Reitmeyer 2, M. Robbenlot 2, Barrow, A. Robbenolt); Columbus East 4 (Roberts 2, Cuhadar, Craig).