Lily Gruber-Schulz battles an aggressive Cromwell defender as she tries to make a move to the basket in a recent home game against the Cardinals.
The Vikings made the long road trip to Moose Lake to face the Moose Lake/Willow-River Rebels on Friday, February 13 and lost by 18 points, 54-36.
“We came out fairly flat versus Moose Lake but hung in the game throughout,” said Head Coach Mitch Dorr. “Again, the story of our game is turnovers and poor shooting. We turned the ball over 21 times and shot 31 percent from the field.”
Lily Gruber-Schulz led the Vikings with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Emily Jacobsen finished with 11 points and 9 boards while Sophie Eliasen had 6 points and Sarah Toftey 2 points.
Girls lose to Cromwell
Cromwell went on a 15-0 run to open the first 6 minutes of the game against the Vikings on February 16, and led the Vikings 34-19 at the halftime break.
While the Vikings played Cromwell even up for the last 8 minutes leading into halftime, the second half went all Cromwell’s way as the Cardinals put up 26 straight points before Lily Gruber-Schulz hit a free throw with 5:48 left in the game. The Vikings only scored 3 points in the second half and fell 64-22.
“We turned the ball over 31 times and just could not get anything going on offense,” said Coach Dorr. “We are putting too much pressure on Lily to score and we are going to need other players to step up on offense.”
Cromwell played nine girls, substituting players in and out every couple of minutes, which wore down the Vikings. The Cardinals’ half-court trapping defense forced the Vikings into a myriad of turnovers and never let the Vikings settle into their offense. Meanwhile the Cardinals scored a lot of lay-ups on steals, which mitigated the Vikings’ defense.
Sophie Eliasen made a couple of really nice drives for the Vikings near the end of the game and Emily Jacobsen and Lily Gruber- Schulz hit some nice baskets, but the Vikings were largely shut down in this game.
Jacobsen led Viking scorers with 8 points while Gruber-Schulz scored 7 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Sophie Eliasen scored 6 points and Hannah Toftey scored one point to end the Vikings’ scoring.
Chelsea Swatek led Cromwell with 16 points.
Once again the Vikings were without several key players for the game. “The most frustrating point of the season has been our lack of a consistent lineup,” said Coach Dorr. “Too many missed practices. I have had more missed practices this season than maybe my 16 years of coaching combined before this year. It makes it tough to play certain players as we still need to teach accountability,” Dorr said.
The Vikings play Lakeview Christian in Two Harbors on Monday, February 23 and Nashwauk Keewatin on February 26 at Nashwauk to end their season before playoffs begin.
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