The ceremony was brief, but when Lily Gruber-Schulz pulled down her 1,000th rebound, the game against Moose Lake/Willow River was stopped and fans stood and cheered to acknowledge Gruber-Schulz for passing another great milestone in her senior year.
Early in the game against Moose Lake/Willow River, the Vikings’ inside game against the Rebels was a thing of beauty.
A typical play saw the team swing the ball around the perimeter on quick passes, looking for Viking center Emily Jacobsen underneath. If they couldn’t find Jacobsen with a long pass, Lily Gruber-Schulz would find an opening into the lane off of her dribble, which drew the defense to her, and then she would flip a short pass to Jacobsen that would lead to two points. Simple enough, but pretty to watch and harder to execute than it looked.
Lily Gruber-Schulz rebound record recognized
With 2:17 gone in the game, Lily Gruber-Schulz went up for a defensive rebound underneath the Moose Lake basket and came down with the ball, the 1,000th rebound of her high school career. She becomes the second Viking player to achieve 1,000 rebounds and score more than 1,000 points in her high school career, something only Essa Jacobsen accomplished.
The game was stopped briefly with 15:43 to play to commemorate Lily Gruber- Schulz for her accomplishment.
When play resumed, despite quite a bit of physical contact, Jacobsen was able to use her jump hook and turnaround jumper to score 12 of the Vikings’ first 14 points as the Vikings jumped to a 14-6 lead.
While Moose Lake looked befuddled early on, they managed to tighten their inside defense, making it harder to get the ball to Jacobsen. The Viking defense didn’t give the Rebels much chance to score either and the Vikings led 27-18 at the half.
The game tightened considerably early in the second half as the Rebels went on a 7-2 run to trail 29-25. Gut check time for the Vikings.
Head Coach Kelly Senty called a timeout and settled her squad down, and the Vikings responded with a 7-2 run of their own to go back up 38-27 behind the outside shooting of Sophie Eliasen.
The last seven minutes were filled with chippy play from the Running Rebels with few fouls called by the referees, even when the result was a Viking player being knocked down or knocked out of bounds. The Vikings didn’t respond in kind, but kept playing a clean game and pushed to a 46-31 win behind the stifling defense played by twins Sarah and Hannah Toftey, Shauna Blake, Bayley Cox, and Jacobsen and Gruber-Schulz.
Although she was knocked down no less than three times, Jacobsen ended her night with 20 points, 13 rebounds and 2 steals. Gruber-Schulz finished with 7 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocks. Eliasen ended her night with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals. Blake tallied 6 points, 1 rebound and 1 assists while Hannah Toftey had 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Sarah Toftey had 1 assist and 2 steals and Cox had 1 rebound.
Vikings lose to Floodwood
The Vikings traveled to Floodwood on Monday, February 15 to face the Polar Bears in a rematch. Earlier in the year, December 8, the Vikings fell 62-48 on their home floor to the Polar Bears. This game wasn’t much different. The Vikings trailed 32-24 at halftime and fell 68-55.
Eliasen led all scorers with 24 points, four of those baskets coming off of 3-point shots. Jacobsen (15), Gruber-Schulz (10), Hannah Toftey (4), and Cox (2) points completed the Vikings’ scoring.
Vikings toppled by Cromwell
Hands down Cromwell is the best shooting, best passing, and maybe, the best defensive team the Vikings have faced all season. They beat the Vikings by 35 points earlier in the season and Coach Senty said at the time the girls had no reason to hang their heads after that loss.
On Tuesday, February 16, Bailey Groner and her Cromwell Cardinal teammates came to Grand Marais and displayed all of their talents, rarely missing a 3-point shot and finding ways to get the ball inside for easy baskets underneath. Meanwhile their full-court press gave the Vikings fits. Still the Vikings fought hard all night long, losing 80-51, but playing with determination until the final buzzer.
One highlight was the team’s foul shooting. While the stat book wasn’t available at press time, the Vikings rarely missed a foul shot.
The Vikings trailed 46-30 at the half and it was apparent they couldn’t keep pace with Cromwell’s wide-open hard charging offense. Cromwell rarely turned the ball over and using perfect spacing, always found someone open to pass to as they quickly worked their way to the basket.
“Cromwell is a great shooting team and can transition smoothly up the court,” said Coach Senty. “These are the games you want to play as it is a good marker for where we are and what goals we have as we start thinking about the post season.”
The Vikings have two more games left on the schedule before playoffs, one at South Ridge on February 19, and a final home game against Nashwauk-Keewatin on February 26 at 6:30 p.m.
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