When the Vikings badly need a basket Theresa Morrin (above) has often been able to drive to the hoop and score. Here she goes up for 2 points against Cherry. Leah Utities (upper right) goes for a lay-up against Silver Bay and Kaitlyn Linnell (right), a great rebounder and defender, hits for 2 points.
The Mesabi East Giants came to Grand Marais last Thursday night, January 12, and—despite not being very tall—played like Giants against a Viking team that just couldn’t get going.
It wasn’t for lack of effort. The Vikings played hard, but were a step too slow, always half an inch away from coming up with a key rebound. It was just one of those nights.
Give Mesabi East some credit, though. They hit the Vikings with a full-court press and never let up, forcing the Vikings into some key turnovers.
Despite their somewhat ragged play, the Vikings led 16-15 at the 10-minute mark. But Mesabi went on a 21-7 run to head into the locker room up 36-23. Much of that was due to Viking turnovers and Mesabi’s players seemingly hitting every shot they took in the first half.
However, two things happened in the second half: Mesabi’s players had trouble putting the ball in the basket and the Vikings started to hold onto the ball a little better.
Slowly but surely the Vikings fought their way back into the game. They closed the gap some after holding the Giants scoreless for the first 6 minutes of play while scoring 6 points of their own.
Led by Junior Theresa Morrin who scored 13 second-half points, mostly on drives to the hoop, the Vikings pulled to within two points with less than two minutes to go.
With the score Mesabi 43, Vikings 41, the Giants’ Nikki Arn hit a big shot to bring the Giants’ lead to 4.
Down 4, with one minute to go, the Vikings had plenty of time to score and tie the game or take the lead but they couldn’t generate any offense. None. Instead, they were forced to foul Mesabi players who were flawless at the foul line, converting their last 10 points from the charity stripe. The Vikings lost 54-45 in a game that was closer than the final score indicated.
Once again Ashley Deschampe led the Vikings in scoring with 15 points. Morrin had 13, Bekah Laky and Lily Gruber-Schulz each had 6, and Breana Peterson netted 5 points. Vikings rebound with win over Silver Bay
Although the Vikings were down a bit from their loss to Mesabi East the night before, they quickly put the past behind them in their game against their North Shore rivals, the Silver Bay Mariners who they met at home on Friday night, January 13.
This game was over almost before it started. The Vikings came out pressing the Mariners and forced Silver Bay into one turnover after another. Because of all of the take aways, the Vikings were able to make easy lay-ups and put backs and smothered Silver Bay with long scoring runs their rivals weren’t able to answer.
Up 56-6 at halftime, Head Coach T.J. Super put the second and third teams in for the second half.
Ashley Deschampe led all scorers with 28 points, 26 scored in the first half. She was followed in scoring by Bekah Laky with 13, Theresa Morrin with 11, Leah Utities with 6, Kaitlynn Linnell with 4, Breana Peterson with 4, Lily Gruber-Schulz with 2 and Jordyn Deschampe with 1.
Alicia Nopola led Silver Bay in scoring with 15 points. Another win over Cherry
Senior guard Ashley Deschampe put on a shooting clinic in the opening minutes of the Vikings’ showdown with the 7-3 Cherry Tigers last Monday night, January 16.
Deschampe scored 18 straight points—including three 3-pointers— to give the Vikings an early 18-10 lead over their alwaystough Section 7A foe.
The Tigers were led by their star Taylor Sauter and fielded a talent-laden team of juniors and seniors who have gone to state in volleyball and softball the last two years.
Once Deschampe cooled off, it was junior Theresa Morrin who took over the scoring duties. Morrin scored the Vikings’ next 8 points on slashing drives to the basket and increased the Vikings’ lead to 26-11. But Cherry put on a full-court press the last two minutes before halftime and scored the next 7 points, cutting the Vikings’ halftime lead to 26-18.
The second half was played at hyper speed, with both teams losing the ball to each other over and over again. In all, there were 19 turnovers in the first 7 minutes of the second half.
Midway through the second period, the Vikings settled down and started to show some patience on offense. Deschampe scored a couple of lay-ups, Kaitlynn Linnell hit a big bucket and Morrin continued to drive to the basket and get fouled. In all, Morrin hit a phenomenal 11-12 from the line at the end of the game.
“The game was very aggressive inside,” said Coach Super. “Eighth-grader Lily Gruber- Schulz corralled 10 rebounds while Morrin grabbed 8. Juniors Leah Utities and Kaitlynn Linnell also gave the Vikings valuable minutes, helping to stabilize the tides, with senior Bekah Laky in foul trouble the whole game.”
Deschampe led all scorers with 30 points. Morrin scored 23, Linnell 5, Laky 2 and Gruber- Schulz had 2 points for the Vikings. Vikings face Cromwell
After a night’s rest and a busy day at school, it was once again time for the Viking girls’ squad to put on their uniforms and lace up their sneakers and get ready to play their fourth game in six days. On this night it was their conference rival Cromwell Cardinals that came to town.
Once again Ashley Deschampe started out with the hot hand, scoring 10 of the Vikings’ first 12 points. However, no matter how many points the Vikings put up, Cromwell came right back to score baskets of their own. With the score tied at 28-28 late in the first half, the Vikings were finally able to get some separation from their stubborn opponents and score the last 6 points to go into the locker room up 34-28, with Deschampe netting 19 points.
According to Coach Super, the first half was marred by “poor play on defense and atrocious boxing out,” by the Vikings.
What happened in the second half was nothing short of amazing.
The first 7½ minutes saw neither team able to score a basket, although each team had plenty of chances. Call it good defense and poor shooting.
Just when it looked like neither team was going to ever score again, Deschampe got free for a couple of lay-ups and the offense revved up, with the Vikings outscoring Cromwell 15-6 in the next few minutes.
But Cromwell wasn’t going to just wilt. After the Vikings took a 16-point lead Cromwell came storming back, causing the Vikings to turn the ball over a lot as the clock wound down. Cromwell scored 13 points while the Vikings could only generate 4 more points on free throws at the end of the game, however the Vikings held on to win 59-48.
“After playing terrible defense in the first half and not working to get rebounds, the Vikings did a much better job in the second half getting a hand in the shooters’ faces, playing help side defense, and finally boxing out,” said Super.
Super sat Theresa Morrin out for much of the first half after two quick fouls, but when he inserted her in the second half he noted, “Morrin came in and grabbed 7 defensive rebounds, while Lily Gruber-Schulz added 6 in the second half and Bekah Laky finished with 10 boards.”
As for Deschampe, she tied the school record for most points in a game with 38. Ann Sieckert set the mark in 1991 in a game against Fond du Lac. Deschampe was 6-12 from the 3-point line and 6-9 from the free throw line.
Other Viking scorers included Jessica Berg-Collman and Bekah Laky who each netted 6 points. Breana Peterson, Kaitlynn Linnell, Lily Gruber-Schulz, and Theresa Morrin each added 2 points and Leah Utities had 1 point.
The Vikings record is now 8-6. The team travels to Moose Lake-Willow River on Friday before coming home to face the Ely Timberwolves on Saturday January 21 at 1 p.m.
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