Above: Jami Sjogren looked to pass to an open Viking player as No. 23 closely guarded her in the game against Barnum. Left: Shauna Blake (3) had a great game against Barnum. Here she goes up to score 2 of her 9 points.
If only Barnum didn’t hit seven 3-point shots in the first half. If only Barnum hadn’t gone on a 14-point run at the end of the first half. If the Viking girls had come out and played defense like they did in the second half. If only…the outcome might have been very different.
Instead, the Vikings fell 51-41 to the Barnum Bombers on Friday, January 9 at home in a game closer than the final score.
Barnum did pretty much what it wanted to in the first half, taking a 36-14 lead into the break. Who knows what happened in the Viking locker room at halftime, but a completely different squad came out in the second half. The Vikings scored 10 straight points and held Barnum scoreless for 7 minutes before surrendering a free throw to the Bombers. And frankly the Bombers were lucky to get that.
Viking players were out on Barnum’s 3-point shooters like rose petal perfume on a princess, and Emily Jacobsen, Lily Gruber-Schulz, Shauna Blake and Jami Sjogren grabbed every loose ball that caromed off the backboard or rim.
During the second half the Vikings were patient on offense, finding Emily Jacobsen down low, with Shauna Blake and Jami Sjogren also getting good looks and scoring some big baskets for the Vikings. Lily Gruber-Schulz—who had an ankle injury a couple of weeks ago—looked like she has returned to her old self, playing great defense and scoring on drives when the Vikings needed offense.
Late in the game the Vikings were down 47-39 when they had to start fouling to get the ball back. Barnum players made 4 straight free throws to seal the win 51-41. The Vikings outscored Barnum 27-15 in the second half.
When asked what he said to his players at the halftime, Head Coach Mitch Dorr said, “I just asked them to pursue two goals: 1. Continue to compete. 2. Try to get to 11 points with 7 minutes left. I thought if we could do that, we would give ourselves a chance.”
Dorr also said his second half team played much better defense, but said, “We turned the ball over too much.”
The Vikings had 32 turnovers for the game.
As for the play of Shauna Blake, “Shauna had a tremendous game for us and I was really proud of the way she competed.
“Jami [Sjogren] and Emily [Jacobsen] come to play every night. I am really proud of their work ethic.”
Lily Gruber-Schulz led the team with 13 points. Emily Jacobsen put up 11 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Shauna Blake scored 9 points while Jamie Sjogren hit for 6 points and Sara Toftey netted 2 points. The Vikings were 11-0 from the free throw line.
“I was proud of the way the girls stayed in the game and continued to fight,” Dorr said.
As the season moves on, Dorr said his team is getting better in many phases. Most importantly, he said, “We are improving in a big category— the will to compete. We don’t shoot well and we don’t handle the ball very well, but we are improving in our will to compete and work hard, which is vital to the turnaround of this program.”
Vikings lose to Cherry 66-38
The Vikings took the long bus ride to play the Cherry Tigers on Tuesday, January 13 and were beaten by another top ranked club 66-38.
Viking center Emily Jacobsen scored 19 points in the game; otherwise Jami Sjogren was the next highest scorer with 6 points. Molly Thomas scored 4 points while both Shauna Blake and Sarah Toftey each scored 3 points. Lily Gruber- Schulz chipped in 2 points while Sophie Eliasen made a fee throw to score 1 point.
With the loss the Vikings’ record falls to 3 wins, 5 losses while Cherry’s record is 8-2.
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