On Friday night the Lady Vikings outscored the Lady Wolverines 46-37 in a physical and focused play for points.
“It was close the whole way,” said Coach Terry Moran-Hodge.
“We pulled away in the fourth quarter points-wise and outmanned them at the end. We had a deeper bench and they only suited up eight girls and we managed to out-work them in the long run. We used a lot of pressure early on and Friday Harbor just fell behind as we kept pressing.”
All but one player scored that day for Orcas. Lanie Padbury had a huge game, scoring 16 points for Orcas and leading the team in offensive and defensive rebounds as well as taking part in four assists and stealing the ball four times. Stephanie Shaw scored nine points and Anika Thomas scored eight points and had five rebounds.
“Basically,” said Moran-Hodge, “our game plan is to out-hustle the other team and what makes my job easier is this team’s ability to buy into the system of working hard. It’s a real pleasure to coach when they give 100 percent every time that they are out there. That’s the sort of thing that makes us successful is their energy. Friday Harbor shot really well. One of their members scored 18 points against us. We saw that and worked to shut her down in the second half. Sydney Harris, one of our seniors, took that job to heart and shut her down in the third and fourth quarters of the game. Not all the young women are scorers, or rebounders, but together they know enough about the game to help the team win. It’s a lot of fun, and very satisfying as a coach to see that everyone is contributing.”
On Tuesday Jan. 6, Orcas lost to Shoreline Christian 49-40.
“They were not a very big team, but we came out and shot poorly right at the start. We were behind 15-3 in the first quarter and we dug ourselves into a deep hole right off the bat. Because of Tuesday’s error, one of the things we focused on during the Friday Harbor game is to have a good start and not get behind early on. I know that any team can beat any other team this year in our league, because we’re all nicely balanced. This means every game we have to come out and be very aggressive and very focused. On Tuesday, Lanie Padbury led with 12 points, and Stephanie Shaw led with 10 points. The three captains, all seniors. ..M addy Smith, Anika Thomas and Sydney Harris .. are providing great leadership and team support. They are all very unselfish with the ball, which is the opposite problem usually for a coach. The fact that the entire team can recover and not get on each other’s backs when they are down 14 points is a sign of maturity that I’m very happy about.”
The Lady Vikings play again at Darrington on Tuesday, January 13, at La Conner on Friday, January 16, and on Saturday the Lady Vikings play a home game against Foster at Orcas.
