Going in hard for a lay-up, Leah Utities had her highest scoring game of the year when she hit for 15 points against the Mesabi East Giants. Leah also hit a big 3-point shot to send that game into overtime.
It was a tough week for the Vikings girls’ basketball team who lost one game in overtime and played two other teams tough in close losses on the road. A fourth road game in a killer six-day stretch was cancelled due to icy weather.
Overtime fight against Mesabi East
On Thursday, January 10 the Vikings traveled to the Iron Range to play Mesabi East in a game that went into overtime, but the Vikings came up short 67-54.
Down 22-26 at half, the Vikings outscored the Giants 29-25 in the second half to tie the score 51-51 and send it into overtime.
It was all Mesabi East in overtime as the Giants held the Vikings to 3 points while scoring 16 points.
Leah Utities had her best game of the season, leading the Vikings with 15 points, her highest point total of the year. Both Theresa Morrin and Kaitlynn Linnell tallied 11 points while Breana Peterson and Lily Gruber-Schulz each scored 8 points and Jami Sjogren netted 2 points.
Megan West led the Giants with a game-high 33 points.
Head Coach Todd Toulouse had nothing but praise for his players: “We out-rebounded them, but missed too many lay-ups. We also were only 8 for 22 from the free throw line. If we make those missed lay-ups or free throws we would have won the game.
“Leah Utities hit a 3-pointer to tie the score with 20 seconds left on the clock. We had a chance to win it but Theresa’s shot from a foot inside the free throw line hit the front of the rim.
“We had a great effort to catch up with them and tie it in regulation, but we ran out of gas and they ran out away with it in overtime.
“I was very pleased with our effort. If we limit our turnovers we will end up winning those close games.”
A tough loss to Cherry Tigers
The next night the Vikings were supposed to travel to Silver Bay to face the Silver Bay Mariners but the game (and school) was postponed due to icy roads.
On Monday, January 14 the Vikings traveled to Cherry to face the Tigers. In another tough contest, the Vikings played Cherry close, trailing 28-24 at the half. But the Tigers pulled away over the second half and took the game 61-46.
“Once again the turnover bug hit us,” said Toulouse.
“With that being said, Cherry had 20 more shots during the game then we did. They got out and ran on us. We out-rebounded them, but they had too many offensive rebounds and short little put-backs. If we limit our turnovers, again we are in this game and probably end up winning. If we play our game there isn’t a team around here that I don’t think we can beat,” Toulouse said.
Theresa Morrin led Viking scorers with 12 points while Lily Gruber-Schulz and Breana Peterson each scored 10 points. Kaitlynn Linnell and Leah Utities finished with 6 points and Essance Haines had 2 points.
Angel Dahl led Cherry with 28 points.
Cromwell sinks Viking ship
On January 4 the Vikings soundly beat Cromwell 51-39 at home, but on Tuesday, January 15 the Vikings couldn’t quite duplicate their earlier effort and lost by 5 points, 60-55 at Cromwell.
This time Cromwell jumped out to a big lead and went into the locker room up 33-24. The Vikings fought their way back, however, outscoring the Cardinal’s 31-27 over the second half, but just ran out of time in their quest to clip the Cardinal’s wings and take home another victory.
Breana Peterson had an outstanding game for the Vikings, scoring 22 points while the only other Viking in double figures was Theresa Morrin who had 16 points. Lily Gruber-Schulz had 9 points, Kaitlynn Linnell, 5 points, and Leah Utities added 3 points to close out the Viking scoring.
Cromwell was led by Allie Calhoun’s 20-point performance.
Citing his team’s fatigue, Toulouse said, “Our girls were tired from the night before and it showed. I was pleased with their effort and the second half of the first half and all of the second half. We battled even though we had a long night the night before. We will have to discuss the schedule for next year so we set our girls up for success and not have these back-to-back away games. Professional athletes don’t even have as grueling a schedule as we have had at times this season.
“We will learn from our mistakes these last three games and continue to grow and improve. Our goal is to be playing at our best come playoffs, and I can see us improving each and every day. Our effort has been there for the most part and that is all I can ask as a coach.”
At press time on Friday, January 18, the Vikings will play their third game in five days when they face Moose Lake/Willow River at home.
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