Above: With the Cromwell defender getting a little too close, Suzy Burton put her arm out to give herself some space as she dribbled around her defender to get to the basket. Left: With her eyes on the basket, Shauna Blake takes a shot against the Carlton Bulldogs. Blake scored four points against the Bulldogs in the Vikings win.
The Viking girls’ basketball team played back-to-back basketball games last Thursday, February 6, and Friday, February 7 and recorded two wins, then faced Cromwell at home on Tuesday, February 11 and beat the Cardinals to make it three-for-three.
Great defense against Silver Bay
On Thursday the girls traveled to Silver Bay and routed the Mariners 48-9.
“We played very well in Silver Bay and it all started with great man to man defense,” said Head Coach Mitch Dorr.
The Vikings led 29-4 at halftime.
“I was very happy with our focus and intensity throughout the game,” Dorr said.
Lily Gruber-Schulz led the Vikings in scoring with 15 points. Suzy Burton scored 13 points and Breana Peterson had 12 points for the evening.
Vikings beat the Bulldogs
The next night the Vikings faced the Carlton Bulldogs, and for the first half it was close, with the Vikings leading 31-25. However, the Vikings played a variety of defenses in the second half and just out-worked the Bulldogs, pulling away to win big by a score of 71-42. But the game was a rough-andtumble affair with many players hitting the court hard in their quest to secure the basketball.
“I thought the Carlton game was very sloppy,” said Coach Dorr. “We had 33 turnovers and Carlton had 43 turnovers for a total of 76 turnovers. We really need to learn to take better care of the ball.”
One bright spot for the Vikings in this game was the play of its bench, with all of the players once again seeing action.
“I thought our bench played better this game and gave us much better energy. Shauna Blake and Liz O’Phelan gave us some great energy and both scored four points during their time on the floor,” Dorr said.
Once again Lily Gruber-Schulz led the Vikings in scoring with 23 points. Breana Peterson ended her night with 19 points and Suzy Burton tallied 11 points for the game.
Defining game against Cromwell
As turnarounds go, this is about as big as it gets. The Vikings lost to Cromwell 65-19 at Cromwell mid-January. On Tuesday night, the Vikings beat the same Cromwell team 58-56.
Against Cromwell the Vikings played with more control and took better care of the basketball than they have in a long time, said Coach Dorr.
“We also rebounded very well against Cromwell. They have 10 good players and we kept them pretty much to one shot. This is the first game where we have put together two good halves. Our zone defense worked well against Cromwell. Our bench also played great. Both Breana (Peterson) and Lily (Gruber-Schulz) were in foul trouble early and the bench stepped up and gave us a huge lift,” Dorr said.
Two ninth graders, Emily Jacobsen (6 points) and Essance Haines (12 points) had great games for the Vikings, said Dorr.
“Breana also had a big second half for us, scoring 17 of her 20 points in that half. Lily scored 15 points on the night,” Dorr said.
“Every team has a defining game for good or bad during the season. This was our defining game and it was a good one. I’m proud of the girls, proud of the effort that they gave,” said Dorr.
The Vikings are now 5-7 in the Polar League and rank 7th out of 11 teams.
The Vikings next play Esko on the 18th at Esko and Floodwood on the 21st at Floodwood, and then they come home to play Lakeview Christian Academy on the 25th and then Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin on the 27th, also at home.
None of the games missed because of bad weather will be made up because there isn’t enough time left in the season before the playoffs begin, said Coach Dorr.
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