Left: Going up strong for a layup, Emily Jacobsen (42) blew by her defender to score two of her game-high 21 points against Two Harbors. Above: Double trouble! The Toftey twins, Hannah (13) and Sarah (4) don’t score a lot, but both guards play tough defense and work hard to get teammates the ball on offense.
The Cook County High School girls’ basketball team traveled to Silver Bay on December 17 and came away with a 63-23 win over the Silver Bay Mariners.
A strong Floodwood Polar Bear team defeated the Vikings 62-48 in their first game of the season, but the team has worked out some of the rough edges and is progressing nicely, said Head Coach Kelly Senty this week.
Against Silver Bay three Vikings scored in double figures: Lily Gruber-Schulz had 17, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 8 steals. Emily Jacobsen finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. Sophie Eliasen had 14 points and 3 steals. Sarah Toftey had 7 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals. Hannah Toftey finished with 6 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist. Bayley Cox had 2 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal while Shauna Blake had 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals. Maya McHugh ended her night with 2 points.
Gruber-Schulz and Eliasen each made two 3-point shots in the game.
Erika Ernest led Silver Bay with 8 points.
Two Harbors
The next night Two Harbors came to town and the Vikings wasted little time getting and holding a lead over the Agates. The Vikings switched up their defense, sometimes playing manto man and sometimes employing a matchup zone, which kept Two Harbors off balance.
On offense the Vikings aggressively pushed the ball up the court. Normally a forward, for now Gruber-Schulz is bringing the ball down the floor. At 6’, Gruber- Schulz is taller and stronger than most defensive players who try to guard her. Gruber-Schulz’s ability to find the open player and take the ball to the hole off the dribble causes problems for other teams.
Against Two Harbors, Gruber- Schulz found the Vikings’ junior center Emily Jacobsen open for some easy baskets, and Jacobsen used her passing skills to set up freshman guard Sophie Eliasen, Shauna Blake and Hannah and Sarah Toftey for some good looks from outside. All in all it was a strong performance by a Viking team that is progressing nicely under new Head Coach Senty. The Vikings won 66-51.
Jacobsen led the team in scoring with 21 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals. Gruber- Schulz filled up the stat sheet with 16 points, 12 rebounds 2 assists and 4 steals. Eliasen scored 15 points, grabbed 2 rebounds and had 2 assists. Sarah Toftey had 6 points, 11 boards, 7 assists and 2 steals. Shauna Blake finished with 5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Hannah Toftey finished with 3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Maya McHugh and Bayley Cox also played but didn’t score.
Vikings lose to Cromwell
The Vikings traveled to Cromwell on December 21 to face the 5-0 Cardinals and lost 75-37.
Jacobsen led the team in scoring with 15 points. Eliasen had a big night with 13 points, but team points fell off dramatically after that with normally high scoring Gruber-Schulz held to 5 points and the Toftey twins Sarah and Hannah each scoring 2 points.
“We were down by 11 at the half,” said Coach Senty. “The girls played good defense and started to move as a team defensively in the first half. It is hard when Cromwell has such great shooters and depth off the bench. They would sub in 2-3 girls at a time and had fresh legs consistently. Plus, Cromwell has great shooters outside and it is hard to get to those shooters when we get tired.
“I was happy overall with how the girls handled their intense man-to-man defense and getting the ball over half court off their press in the first half.”
Up next for the Vikings is a two-day Christmas tournament December 28-29 in Two Harbors, then they will travel to play Barnum on January 8.
The first home game of the New Year will be against Cherry on January 12. The game will start at 6:30 p.m. Come out and cheer on your Vikings!
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