Above: Suzy Burton is a new starter for the Vikings, but has been more then capable on the floor. Against Marshall Burton scored 8 points and played very good on defense. Upper right: No. 21 Jamie Sjogren had to fight hard to get a shot off through a sea of hands in the game against Floodwood while No. 15 Kaitlynn Linnell got ready to pick up the rebound. Right: Trace McQuatters (with the ball) passed it to an open Viking player who scored a lay-up while Breana Peterson set a pick to free up the lane.
As the season winds down towards the section playoffs the Vikings have steadily improved, and with two more wins have upped their record to 9-13. The Vikings faced Marshall on Thursday Feb. 7, taking a win from the Hilltoppers. The next night they played Floodwood and lost to a scrappy Bear team but on Tuesday, Feb.12 they played and beat rival Silver Bay Mariners in Silver Bay.
Vikings coast over Hilltoppers
The Cook County girls’ team came out on fire against the Duluth Marshall Hilltoppers last Thursday, putting up 50 first half points before shutting the offense down and coasting to a 65-46 victory.
With a tough Floodwood team coming to town the next night, Head Coach Todd Toulouse rested his starters as much as he could during a second half that saw the Vikings score 15 points while Marshall put up 17 points.
“The game against Marshall was very physical. Marshall is an improving team and I can tell that they have gotten better throughout the year just like we have. It was our first threegame win streak of the season and the girls did a good job on both ends of the floor,” said Coach Toulouse.
With super freshman guard/forward Lily Gruber-Schulz out for the season with an ankle injury, other Viking players had to step up to fill the hole she left.
Leah Utities was one of those players, scoring a team-high 22 points against the Hilltoppers. Theresa Morrin scored 16 points and Breana Peterson added 13 points to lead the Vikings to victory. Utities and Morrin each hit two 3-point shots to ease the pressure on the Vikings inside game.
Maddie Ever led Marshall with 14 points.
With Gruber-Schulz out, Suzy Burton and several other players have been getting more minutes. Burton came up big for the Vikings with 8 points and Kaitlynn Linnell added 6 points and had about a dozen rebounds.
“I think we need to be a little bit more patient on offense and don’t be afraid to shoot the short little jump shots,” said Toulouse.
Girls beat by Bears
Senior forward Theresa Morrin was terrific on offense, but after playing close for the first half, the Vikings slowly lost ground to the Floodwood Bears and ended up losing 84-54.
“We had a decent first half, but we got into foul trouble and missed too many easy little lay ups,” said Coach Toulouse.
“The girls played solid in the first half. They [Floodwood] hit too many 3s against our zone and when we went man-to-man against them they seemed to drive right around us for easy lay ups,” Toulouse said.
In their zeal to slow down the Floodwood guards, the Vikings committed about a dozen reach-in fouls. With Viking players fouling out, some of the younger kids who don’t normally get many minutes came in and did a good job for the Vikings.
“It was good to see the younger girls get in and play towards the end, but I wish we would have had them in there because we were ahead by 30 points and not down by 30 points. We have two games this week and I know if we play our game we should be able to win. We just have to remember to rebound, hustle, and not give up.”
For the game Morrin scored 17 points. Breanna Peterson followed with 12 and Leah Utities hit for 15.
Girls rebound to win over Silver Bay
Cook County used a balanced offensive attack and stiff defense to beat the Silver Bay Mariners 57-32 on Tuesday, February 12 in Silver Bay. But despite the final score, the game wasn’t easy.
The Vikings had a battle on their hands throughout the first half, taking a 24-21 lead into the half time break. Coming out of the break the Vikings started to press the Mariners and force some turnovers, which led to easy baskets.
Breana Peterson led the charge for the Vikings, scoring 16 points. Theresa Morrin who tallied 15 points and Kaitlynn Linnell who scored 11 points followed her. Other Vikings who scored were Leah Utities, who had 6 points, Jordan Deschampe with 4 points, Suzy Burton with 3 points, and Jocelin Deneweth who scored 2 points.
Tara Dow led Silver Bay with 10 points.
The Vikings end their season with road games against Wrenshall this Friday and Two Harbors on Friday, February 22.
Currently their record is 9-13 and 5-6 in the conference.
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