Speedy eighth-grade guard Sophie Eliasen had a break out game against the Silver Bay Mariners. The diminutive but very quick-footed guard scored 18 points, many on lay-ups as she raced past her defender on her way to the hoop. Her offensive and defensive efforts helped the Vikings cruise to a 55-32 win over the Mariners.
The Vikings were behind only once, trailing 2-0 before scoring the next 12 points to go up 12-2. At halftime the Vikings led 30-15, but Silver Bay mounted a bit of a charge after the break, whittling the Vikings’ lead to 34-26, mostly behind the inside scoring of 5’5″ April Reineccius.
Over the course of the last 10 minutes the Vikings outscored Silver Bay 21-6. Much of that offense came off shots made underneath by Emily Jacobsen, who was getting nice passes from Sarah Toftey, Lily Gruber- Schulz and Eliasen. Senior forward Jami Sjogren also scored some nice buckets in that run and while Gruber-Schulz didn’t score as much as usual, her quick hands on defense caused a lot of turnovers.
Defensively the Vikings man-to-man and press (when they ran it) wore Silver Bay down.
“This was the first game where I thought we finally played ‘in shape,’ said Head Coach Mitch Dorr.
On offense the Vikings kept their heads up looking for an open player as they raced down the court after picking up a defensive rebound.
“I think we are improving at pushing the ball up the court and looking for open shots,” Coach Dorr said.
Eliasen led the team with 18 points, followed closely by Emily Jacobsen who netted 17 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. Jami Sjogren ended her night with 10 points while Lily Gruber-Schulz scored 6 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Sarah Toftey had 7 assists and 2 points while Shauna Blake had 2 points to end the Vikings’ scoring.
After the game Coach Dorr—while happy with the hustle his team showed and the “W”—said, “Defensively we really need a lot of work. As a team we had 20 turnovers…way too many.”
The Vikings play Barnum on Friday, January 9 at home. The game starts at 4:45 p.m.
Go Vikings!
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