Friday night at the Orcas High School the Lady Vikings played a nail-biter of a game, finally falling by two points to the Concrete Lionesses 49-47.
“It was quite a game against Concrete, a really close game,” said Coach Terry Moran-Hodge. “We had a lot of fun as a team and it was very tense the entire time. Our team played well under pressure. We didn’t shoot so well from the free throw line and that would have helped. Free throws can win games as all teams hear, but it’s true. Our team was 10/22 Friday night and that’s less than 50 percent, and under my goal, by far. Regardless though, it was a really exciting, physical game, lots of fouls called against both teams and it went down to the very last second, points-wise.”
At halftime Friday, the score was 25-19, the Lady Vikings were down by six in the fourth quarter. “We had a good run, but we didn’t quite catch the Lionesses. We missed eight free throws in the fourth quarter. It’s tough to make free throws with no pressure, so they had their work cut out for them.”
“Defensively,” said Coach Moran-Hodge, “we played really good defense and pressed them the whole time. Halley Parnell had five steals in the fourth quarter alone. We also used a full court pressed the entire time to make the other team work and get that ball turned over. That way, more girls get a chance to play as well. Also, Anika Thomas had 10 rebounds, and Sydney Harris had a great game offensively. She was six for 11 in her field goal attempts. Maddy Smith made a big three pointer for us in the second quarter. Offensively, we need more accuracy but defensively we are like a relentless wave and we have a great energy level. Harris had 10 points in the second half and Stephanie Shaw had 13 for the night.”
The Lady Vikings also played Saturday at Mt. Vernon Christian, but the team came out a little flat because of fatigue.
“Playing end to end like that, there’s bound to be some catch up needed,” said Coach Moran-Hodge. The Lady Vikings lost Saturday afternoon 35-26.
This week, the Lady Vikings play Friday, January 30 at Shoreline, and Saturday they return home to tackle Mt. Vernon Christian on January 31.
