Left: Lily Gruber-Schulz (45) jumped high above the Northeast Range Nighthawk defenders to score two points. Two games later Gruber-Schulz hurt her ankle in the game against Silver Bay and is, sadly, out for the season. Above left: Kaylee Cronberg jukes the defender as she makes her way to the basket. Cronberg passed off on this play. Above right: Coming on strong for the Vikings is Liz O’Phelan who shoots but narrowly misses on this shot against the Nighthawks.
Busy as ever, the Viking girls’ basketball team played three games since last Friday, winning two out of three.
Early in the second half of the game against Northeast Range on Thursday, January 24, Head Coach Todd Toulouse had seen enough of the bad calls out on the court by the referees and threw his hands up in despair and asked for an explanation.
Instead of an explanation, Toulouse received back-toback technicals that sent the Northeast Rangers to the foul line to shoot 4 free throws (and get the ball back), and saw Toulouse head to the showers early because he was tossed from the game.
To be fair, Northeast Range showed up to play and didn’t need all of the extra help they were getting from the officials. Meanwhile the Vikings were having their worst night of the year. Nothing was going in the basket and their play was ragtag, helter skelter. A lot of effort and a lot of trying but there was nothing substantial to show for all of their efforts.
“We didn’t get into a very good rhythm. We turned the ball over too much again, but I was pleased to have watched the second half on film and could see they played much better,” said Toulouse.
All in all it was a hard night on the floor, ending with a loss of 63-28, but one that will lead to a change in the way they practice and set up offensive plays, said Toulouse.
Theresa Morrin led her teammates in scoring with 12 points. Lily Gruber-Schulz, 6, Kaitlynn Linnell, 5, Breana Peterson, 4, and Liz O’Phelan who scored 1 point, followed her.
Vikings rebound to beat Carlton
The Vikings put the game against Northeast Range behind them—far, far behind them—when they traveled to Carlton the next night, January 25, to face the Bulldogs.
After playing the first half as flawlessly as they could, the Vikings went into the locker room up 40-29. Carlton fought its way back into the game, however, and kept the Vikings to 17 second-half points. Still, the tired Vikings held on to win 57-54.
Coach Todd Toulouse didn’t get to attend the game because of his early exit the previous night against Northeast Range.
“I wasn’t able to coach the Carlton game since I was given two technicals the night before,” said Toulouse, adding, “I do know that they were much more patient and valued the basketball more. I am glad to see that they are improving and that if we play our game we are a tough team. Hopefully we will start to peak in the next few weeks and are hitting on all cylinders once playoffs roll around.”
Lily Gruber-Schulz had a great night on offense, scoring a team-high 24 points. Theresa Morrin scored 16 points, Breana Peterson, 6, Kaitlynn Linnell, 5, and Jordyn Deschampe, 4.
Vikings take the wind from the Mariners’ sails
With the task of working the kinks from their offense, the Silver Bay Mariners were just the right team for the Vikings to test out their new, slower style of play.
The Mariners came to Grand Marais on Monday, January 28, with only one win under their belt. While the Vikings only have six wins, they have been close in many of their games while the Mariners have lost by wide margins to most of their competitors.
The Vikings’ aggressive man-to-man and trapping press caused Silver Bay many turnovers. In the past these turnovers would result in the Vikings sprinting down the court and trying for a fastbreak lay-up or taking a quick, short shot in traffic. Most of the time the result of these rushes would end with the Vikings turning the ball back over on missed shots. But on Monday the Vikings showed patience on their take-aways. They set up their offense and passed the ball around until they found an open player who oftentimes scored an easy basket. They left with a big win of 63-36 over the Mariners.
The Vikings got a big scare early in the second half when Lily Gruber-Schulz rolled her ankle. Gruber-Schulz went down hard on the floor where she lay for several minutes in obvious pain while her coaches came to her assistance. Unfortunately for Lily and the team, her injury has proven serious enough to end her season, said Toulouse the next day.
“Lily is probably done for the year. I spoke to her dad and to her this morning at school. The X-rays came back negative, but she has had issues with this ankle numerous times in the past and she needs to really relax it and let it heal totally before she starts doing anything real strenuous with it.
“She has a few more years left in her high school career so we don’t want to rush her back or anything like that,” said Toulouse.
For the year Gruber-Schulz, just a freshman, has been the teams’ rebounding leader and one of its top scorers. She is also one of the main ball handlers on the team, so her allaround play will be missed.
For the night the Vikings had three players in double figures. Theresa Morrin scored 24 points, Kaitlynn Linnell, 13 points and Breana Peterson scored 10 points. Despite her limited play Lily Gruber-Schulz netted 8 points while Jordyn Deschampe had 6 points and Essance Haines, 2 points.
The girls’ next home game is Thursday, January 7, against the Marshall Hilltoppers. The game starts at 6:30 p.m. Come out and cheer for your Vikings!
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