With her happy teammates standing with her, Vikings’ senior center Emily Jacobsen is all smiles as she holds up the sign commemorating her 1,000 points as a Viking. From L-R: Hannah Toftey, Emily Jacobsen, Sophie Eliasen, Sarah Toftey, Abbie Crawford, Maya McHugh, and Bayley Cox.
Ordinarily, a steal that led to a lay-up wouldn’t result in a basketball game being stopped and a standing ovation from the crowd for the player making the lay-up.
But this wasn’t an ordinary basket, nor an everyday player.
With 10 minutes gone in the first half of the game against Barnum last Friday night, Emily Jacobsen stole the ball from a Barnum guard and sprinted, dribbling hard to the basket, covering three-quarters of the floor as she laid the ball into the Vikings’ basket for two points. With that play, Emily, a senior center, joined a select few Vikings who haves scored over 1,000 points in their high school careers.
As the crowd stood and cheered, the game was stopped, and Emily was presented with a basketball and hugs from teammates and coaches.
When the game resumed, the Vikings, who were down 12-3 at one point, fought back and trailed by one point 22-23 at the half. Unfortunately, Barnum rallied and won the game by 10 points 63-53.
Eliasen led all Viking scorers with 26 points. Sophie Eliasen netted 17, Hannah Toftey ended with 4, Sarah Toftey 2, Bayley Cox 2, and Abbie Crawford 1.
“I’m proud of Emily’s accomplishment and leadership that she brings to the team. It’s wonderful to have girls earn that honor,” said head coach Kelly Senty.
“It speaks for female athleticism and also helps build this growing Cook County girls basketball program to have girls such as Emily reach that milestone.
“We were down by 12 early but battled back to being only down by one at the half.
“Although it is always tough to lose, the girls had great effort on the court.
“We are also starting to see our free throw percentage increase which is key to games late in the season,” said Coach Senty, adding “Ladies, all those push-ups are starting to pay off.” (During practice if we do not shoot 70 percent from the free throw line the girls do push-ups).
For the record, the Vikings shot 70 percent from the line against Barnum.
Vikings defeat Thunder Bay
The Vikings played Thunder Bay at home on Saturday, February 4 and won in convincing fashion 65-23. Sophie Eliasen led the Vikings in scoring with 19 points, Bayley Cox had 12, Emily Jacobsen 12, Sarah Toftey 9, Arianna Poyirier 5, Abbie Crawford 5, Maya McHugh 2, and Hannah Toftey netted 2 points.
Head Coach Hannah Senty said the girls hit 80 percent from the free throw line, a high water mark for the team.
“Playing a game after a tough loss can be hard mentally, but the girls came ready to play,” said Senty.
“We took the lead early and were able to have some of the younger girls get some playing time.
“We tried a couple of different defenses as well as drawing up a sideline play on the fly to work on pressure situations and execution,” Coach Senty said.
Vikings travel to Chisholm
Despite some players out with illness, the Vikings made the long trip to Chisholm Bluestreaks and came away with a 70-38 win.
“What I liked seeing in the game was the girls’ ability to see the floor better and make good passes to open teammates,” Coach Senty said.
“Sophie (Eliasen) played the best I have seen her today. She played composed and just worked on both ends of the floor.
“Alyssa (Spry), Zoe (Nonnemacher), and Arianna (Poyirier) came off the bench strong, and it is nice to see them step up and get some quality minutes.”
The Vikings had three players in double figures. Emily Jacobsen had 23 points, Sophie Eliasen 21, Sarah Toftey 10, Arianna Poyirier 7, and Bayley Cox 2 points.
“We have had three games over the past four days, and the girls earned a much-needed day off before getting ready for the last couple weeks building to playoffs,” said Coach Senty.
Esko comes to town
The Esko Eskimos come to Grand Marais on Friday, February 10. This is the last home game of the year. Game time is 6:30 p.m. Come out and cheer for your Vikings!
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