Head Coach Mitch Dorr calls Zoey Anderson (above) a fearless, scrappy ballplayer. Anderson, just a ninthgrader, is seeing more and more playing time on the varsity.
The Vikings showed a lot of hustle against Cromwell on Friday, January 17, but couldn’t score points, falling 65 to 19.
“The wheels fell off a bit in the Cromwell game,” said Head Coach Mitch Dorr.
Down 38 to 7 at the half, the Vikings scored 12 points in the second half and kept Cromwell to 27 points.
More and more Coach Dorr is turning to younger players to find out who can help his team score points. There are times when there are four ninth-graders and one sophomore on the court for the Vikings. That line-up usually includes the Toftey twins, Hannah and Sarah at guard, Emily Jacobsen at center, and Essance Haines at the forward spot playing with sophomore Lily Gruber-Schulz.
And if that group of ninth-graders isn’t on the floor, they’re often replaced by ninth-graders Zoey Anderson, a forward; Baily Cox, a center; Alisha Smith, a forward; or Molly Thomas, a guard who like Haines or Sarah Toftey sometimes starts.
Fast dribbling Hannah Toftey used her ball handling skills to wheel around her defender and make a nice pass on this possession. Hannah and her twin sister Sarah are both freshman guards for the Vikings.
With senior guard Breana Peterson out until at least January 21, the Vikings’ only other reliable scorer has been sophomore Lily Gruber-Schulz, and Lily has now also taken over Breana’s ball handling duties which causes problems underneath the hoop where she normally plays as a forward.
Still, the team is maturing.
“Right now, our number one priority is to find a consistent rotation. This has been very difficult with a younger squad. Once we get into a consistent rotation and get Breana back in the lineup, I think we will compete better,” Dorr said.
Vikings lose to Ely
For the first 8-10 minutes in the Saturday, January 18 home game Ely didn’t miss a shot. It didn’t matter if it was a lay-up, a 5-footer, a jump shot from the free throw line, a 25-foot push shot from well beyond the 3-point line, or one from the locker room, everything they threw at the basket went in.
While Ely eventually cooled off, the Vikings’ offense never really warmed up, although the team did have some small runs. The closest the Vikings would come was when they were down 7 points, 22-15 late in the first half. Unfortunately, while the Ely team was missing its shots during that period of play, the Vikings couldn’t get anything to fall either. It was a missed opportunity that wouldn’t present itself again.
The final score was 55-24.
“I really like how Zoey Anderson is playing right now. She is scrappy and fearless on the floor,” said coach Dorr, adding, “We rebounded against Ely, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Lily Gruber-Schulz once again led the way offensively, however Coach Dorr said he didn’t have point or rebound totals completed by press time.
Weather cancels games
The Viking girls’ team had its game against Northeast Range (Babbitt) cancelled on Tuesday, January 21 because of the extreme cold. This is the third game of the season that has been cancelled due to the weather. The team had its December 16 game against Mountain Iron Buhl (MIB) called off because of a blizzard and its January 3 game against Esko canceled due to Arctic-like conditions.
While no make-up date has been set for MIB, the Vikings will play Esko on February 18 at Esko.
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