Left: Brea Boomer pulls the ball out of the hands of a Moose Lake/Willow River player while Ailee Larson (3) traps the ball handler on the other side. This withering defensive pressure is what the Rebels faced all night long, and it led to a lot of fast break baskets for the Vikings, who won overwhelmingly. Above: Ashley Deschampe lines up to shoot a 3-point shot, which she made. Deschampe nailed four 3-point shots last Tuesday night. Deschampe scored 22 points on a night that saw the starters go to the bench early to allow the subs to come in and get some varsity playing time.
Teams playing the Cook County High School (CCHS) girls’ basketball team need to learn the acronym PTSPL, and what it stands for.
After the Tuesday, Jan 4 game played at home, Moose Lake/Willow River (ML/WR) certainly understands what Press, Trap, Steal, Pass and Lay-up (PTSPL) mean. The ML/ WR team came in sporting a 6-3 record and, even though they are a double-A school, had no chance against the Vikings who hit them with a fierce half-court trap that led to a couple dozen steals and lay-ups galore. And that was just in the first 20 minutes of play.
How good was the Vikings’ defense? The Vikings scored 30 fast break points in the first half. Senior Ailee Larson led the way, scoring 16 points, 8 of them coming from the charity stripe.
Senior Brea Boomer started things off by scoring the Vikings’ first 5 points. With the score 7-2, the Vikings went on another big run and upped their lead to 18-4 with less than five minutes off of the clock.
At that 18-4 junction, ML/WR coach Andrew Miller called a timeout to settle his team down. “Those girls are really good,” one of his very winded players said.
“But look, you’re good, too!” said Miller, urging them on to no avail.
The Vikings kept the ML/WR girls on their heels, charging to a 52-18 half-time lead. And it could have been worse because the Vikings missed plenty of lay-ups and free throws.
ML/WR showed some signs of life coming out for the second half. Shelby Halverson scored 7 straight points to give her team some oxygen. But it was short lived, because the Vikings put their press back on and scored the next 18 points. Game over.
Larson led the way with 24 points. Ashley Deschampe followed with 22, four of those baskets coming from three-point shots tossed in from the hinterlands. Boomer scored 14, Molly Zafft added 10, Bekah Laky netted 6, Theresa Morrin hit for 4 and Leah Utities scored 4 points.
Only Halverson scored in double figures for her team and ended the game with 11 points. Boomer pulled down 11 rebounds for the Vikings.
The final score was 84-39, with both teams allowing subs to finish out the last several minutes of the game.
Next up for the 6-1 Vikings are road games this week against Albrook and Carlton. Both of those teams will, no doubt, get a dose of PTSPL.
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