Above: Ailee Larson made a quick move past the Babbitt-Embarrass defender on her way through the lane where she dished off to Brea Boomer who hit a bucket. Boomer led all scorers with 29 points, Larson chipped in 11 points in the victory. Left: Brea Boomer looks through a sea of Babbitt-Embarrass players’ arms as she looks for an open Viking to hit with a pass. Boomer has had a great senior season, helping her Vikings to a 16-2 record.
Babbitt-Embarrass player Jessie LaValley scored the first basket of the game played last Thursday night, January 27 in Grand Marais. The bucket put her team up 2-0. It was a small lead, and the last lead they would have.
Then it was Cook County’s turn to score, and score they did, as the Vikings racked up the next 17 points, mostly on baskets obtained from turnovers forced from their suffocating half-court defense.
Then the Vikings ratcheted up the play even more, with Brea Boomer dominating the action on the boards and in the paint. Boomer scored 16 of the Vikings’ next 18 points and led the Vikings into break up 48-17.
Senior guard Ailee Larson scored 10 points in the first half, mostly on fast break lay-ups and slashes to the hoop, and Boomer grabbed 9 first half rebounds with Theresa Morrin and Bekah Laky also pulling down their share of boards.
The second half was more of the same. The Vikings applied pressure on defense, which resulted in turnovers and more easy baskets. When the Knights did get a shot up, a Viking was there to rebound the miss. Every rebound seemed to belong to the Vikings, who surrounded the basket and completely dominated the paint around the hoop.
And when the Vikings didn’t score from the field they scored from the charity stripe, going 20-28 from the free throw line. Ashley Deschampe was 7-8 while Boomer went 5-6 from the line.
Coach T.J. Super said, “We enjoyed a nice three-day break from games where we were actually able to string together some practices and get healthier.”
It showed, and the Vikings will be only that much better when super sub Molly Zafft comes back from injury.
A highlight at halftime was Ashley Deschampe receiving a commemorative ball signifying her scoring of 1,000 points.
Boomer led all scores with 29 points. Ashley Deschampe and Ailee Larson added 12 and 11 points, while Bekah Laky netted 6, Theresa Morrin chipped in 5 and Ali Iverson contributed 4 points to finish the Vikings scoring for the night.
Another win over Silver Bay
The last time the CCHS Viking girls’ team played Silver Bay the game was a blowout. But it was played in Grand Marais in front of a friendly crowd. And this time? Well, different day, different location, same result.
The girls traveled down the shore to take on their young rivals, and despite not running their vaunted helter skelter mind-bending half-court press, still managed to take a 65-9 lead into the halftime break.
“We came out without our patented press, but we were still able to run the court for easy buckets,” said Coach Super.
Super said he moved his team into a zone in the second half and, “every bench player saw major minutes.”
The Vikings outscored the Mariners 36-13 in the second half to close out the game 101-22.
Brea Boomer led all scorers with 23 points, while Ailee Larson chipped in 17. Ashley Deschampe, Bekah Laky, and Molly Zafft (coming off a shoulder injury) all scored 13.
In all, said Super, 11 girls scored with the bench players contributing 36 points.
The Vikings’ record is now 14-2. They travel to Two Harbors on Friday, Feb. 4 to take on the Agates in another Polar League game.
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