In amongst the “trees” Rhonnie Poyirier tries to maneuver and find room to shoot the basketball in a recent home game. Rhonnie, the younger sister of Ariana, is a sophomore starting forward for the Vikings. Photo courtesy of Bruce Johnson
Using a strong man-to-man defense and draining threes from all over the court, Esko wasted little time in jumping out to a 21-7 lead over the Cook County girls’ basketball team on Friday, February 14 in a home game played in the Pam Taylor gymnasium.
Esko, a three A school, led 32-14 at the half and cruised to a 58-28 point win over the one A Vikings.
With the win, Esko is now 15-9 on the year. The loss dropped the Vikings record to 8-11 on the season.
The Poyirier sisters, Ariana and Rhonnie, led the Vikings in scoring with eight points each. Paisley Smith finished with six points, Katie Peck had four points and Kamryn Johnson two points in the contest.
Esko, who didn’t suit up a girl taller than 5’10”, had three players in double figures, Kristi DeMuth 18; Sarah Wagemaker 13; and Alia Gabel had ten points.
At the beginning of the second half, the Vikings scored the first four points on baskets by Ariana and Paisley to make the score 32-18. However, Esko scored the next 20 points to go up 52-18 and put the game away.
Esko had eight three-point baskets in the game that came from five different players. Ariana Poyirier had the lone three-point basket for the Vikings.
The Vikings have one last home game before the playoffs start. They play Nashwauk-Keewatin on Friday, February 21 at 4:45 p.m. Come out and cheer on your Vikings!
Section 7 playoffs begin on February 27. At this time, the brackets haven’t been set yet.
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