Left: Ailee Larson is in constant motion on the basketball court. Her speed allows her to break down defenses and penetrate the lane for easy lay-ups. Above: Ashley Deschampe has scored more than 1,000 points for her career, and one of the ways she has accomplished this is by making her free throws. Ashley shoots better than 80 percent from the foul line, and usually leads the conference in this category.
The Cook County High School (CCHS) girls’ basketball team took its stellar 18-2 record to Barnum on Friday, February 25 to face an equally impressive team in the Barnum Bombers, who came in with a 22-3 mark.
It figured to be a hard, hotly fought contest on the hardwood, but it didn’t work out that way. “We played Barnum tough except for one singular aspect of the game—rebounding,” said Head Coach T.J. Super.
“We got killed on the boards and it led to many fouls and second chance points for them. It wasn’t just because of how good they are, either. We didn’t do what we normally do and that’s box out,” said Super.
With two minutes to play in the first half the girls were down by 5 points. “We should have been up by 10, if we could have just got more boards, since our defense at the initial point of attack was pretty good,” Super said, adding, “We got back well on defense and limited their transition points and we took care of the ball on offense and got good shots.”
Still, the Vikings trailed 38-29 at halftime.
The second half saw Barnum extend its lead to 14 points, but the Vikings came roaring back with Ashley Deschampe knocking down a three-point shot, Taylor Ryden taking her defender off the dribble for a lay-up and Theresa Morrin scoring on an offensive rebound and put back.
But Barnum was able to maintain the lead and with five minutes to play and Barnum up by 11 points, the Vikings had to close the gap some more. It wasn’t to be on this night however, as the Vikings turned the ball over three straight times in the next minute-and-a-half and the Bombers took a 20-point advantage over a tired Viking team.
At that juncture, with three and one half minutes to play, “the game was over,” said Super.
“Barnum’s Jessica Newman just dominated the game, scoring 30 points and shutting Brea Boomer down to 10 points. Taylor Ryden and Theresa Morrin both played really good games, but our big three were held in check and that was the difference in the game,” Super said.
Ashley Deschampe led all Viking scorers with 13 points. Boomer and Ryden each hit for 10 points and Morrin, with 9 and Ailee Larson with 8 completed the scoring for the Vikings, who lost 74-49.
The Vikings first play-off game was Thursday, March 3 at Hermantown. They faced the winner of the Wrenshall vs. Silver Bay game that was played March 1.
“We have high expectations heading into the playoffs, although we know there are some good teams and players in the Section. We know we have to get by a 2,000-point scorer in either Emily Youngstrom (Cook), or Charlotte Overbye (Mountain Iron-Buhl) to get to the finals.
“We don’t have to change anything we do to be successful, but we have to play up to our expectations if we want to get to where we want to go,” said Super.
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