by MARTY ZIER

Sports contributor

The Lady Vikings traveled to Skagit Valley for an 81-46 loss to the LaConner Braves on Dec. 16.

Facing the top team in the league with a 6-0 record, the 2-2 Vikings led after the first quarter, which Coach Gregg Sasan felt “surprised” the Braves.

But LaConner came out in the second quarter with a stiflingly full court press that Sasan said his girls could not handle.

“It was like getting hit with a buzz saw, dug us a pretty deep hole that we could not catch up,” he said.

Outside of 4 out of 17 free-throw shooting, which Sasan frowned at, he was pleased with his team for the remainder of the game.

“We kept our composure in the second half Kilee Rogers, Hannah Brunner-Gaydos and Halle Thompson all did really well for us, and that’s encouraging,” Sasan said. “But the younger kids have to step up. I had to use a couple because of foul trouble and they did really well. “

Orcas scoring was lead by Brunner-Gaydos with 16, Emma Minnis 15, Thompson 10 and Katy Minnis with 4.

Coupeville is next on the schedule for the Vikings.

The 2-3 Viking boys took a run at the 4-1 LaConner Braves in a 68-32 loss.

“They are one of the powerhouses of the league. We went at them hard, but their experience showed and they wore us down,” said Coach Corey Wiscomb. “We opened strong, they kept making adjustments and they were able to go farther down the rabbit hole than we could.”

The rabbit hole was defined by Wiscomb as LaConner’s full-court press.

“LaConner came out with a full-court press almost the entire game. We broke it easily the  first quarter, they made adjustments and we were forced into a scheme not that strong or familiar with our team,” he said.

Wiscomb saw improvement in his team’s outside shooting but would like to see more looks in the paint.

“We have some big guys and we are not pounding the ball down low like we could – and that would help our game,” Wiscomb said.

The Vikings next take on Coupeville for a non-league contest.