Lily Gruber-Schulz (left) and Jami Sjogren were selected co-captains for the Viking girls’ basketball team this season. The Vikings are off to a 2-0 start
Lily Gruber-Schulz led the Cook County girls’ basketball team to a 43-24 victory over the Carlton Bulldogs on Tuesday, December 9 in a game played on the Bulldogs, floor.
The Vikings are now 2-0 on the season.
Gruber-Schulz scored 19 points and pulled down a fistful of rebounds. Emily Jacobsen tallied 10 points, Molly Thomas 8 points, Sophie Eliasen 3 points and Jami Sjogren scored 3 points in the contest.
Head Coach Mitch Dorr said the game wasn’t pretty.
“We started slow. They were into a 2-3 zone and packed it in. We still don’t have any outside shooting and they took advantage of that,” said Coach Dorr.
“Still, we got out to a 7-1 lead and then stalled out from there. They started outhustling us and we led 15-13 at the half. After I had a little talk with the kids at halftime we came out and outscored them 28-11 the rest of the way.
“I have to say I am happy with our defense and happy with our rebounding. But we have to find some kids besides Lily who can score. We did not have a lot of kids shooting over the summer and that is reflective in our free throw shooting.
“We are 12-39 combined over the last two games. We were 8-20 against Carlton. That’s a real indication that we weren’t practicing shooting over the summer,” Dorr said.
The Vikings have scored only one 3-point shot for the season, and that was by eighth-grader Sophie Eliasen.
“Sophie may turn out to be a good shooter. She’s learning the point guard position from Sarah Toftey, who is a sophomore and my toughest kid. I expect a lot from my point guards. They are the quarterback of the team,” he said.
Coach Dorr said more help is coming in the way of Essance Haines and Trace McQuatters, two good young athletes who are also good basketball players.
“I am going to be putting in some presses and until we find some outside shooting, we are going to keep working on getting to the basket. If we can score we can be competitive,” Coach Dorr said.
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