Hardwood Heroes
Lady Vikings Comeback Falls Short
< < Back toIRONTON, Ohio (WOUB) – The 5-8 Vinton County Lady Vikings traveled on the road to take on the 3-10 Rock Hill Redwomen. The Lady Vikings were coming off back-to-back wins surpassing their win total of last season (4-18). The Vikings struggled to carry on the success they had from the last two games as they struggled to stop Rock Hill Senior Forward Hope Easterling. The early success from Rock Hill was enough to hold off the late resurgence of the Lady Vikings tenacious defense in the 4th Quarter winning the game 52-41.
The first quarter saw Rock Hill controlling the offensive boards and zone defense. Rock Hill Senior Hope Easterling dominated the boards as she nabbed seven rebounds in the first quarter while adding eight points. The Vikings struggled to hit from the field as they ended up falling behind 16-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Vinton County continued to struggle to control the boards as Rock Hill continued to grab offensive rebounds at will. Hope Easterling added two rebounds and another eight points, making her one rebound shy of a double-double. The Lady Vikings continued to struggle to shoot the ball from deep. Their inability to hit from the field caused them to fall further behind at halftime 27-13.
In the third quarter, the Lady Vikings showed signs of life as Junior Caryssa Brisker hit back-to-back threes before the end of the third quarter swinging the momentum toward Vinton County. The Vikings held Easterling scoreless in the third but still couldn’t solve their rebounding issue as they trailed 40-24 entering the fourth quarter.
Vinton County came out firing on all cylinders as guards Leila Haislop and Lakin Williams helped create turnovers and points on the other end eventually cutting the lead to nine with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Head Coach Brett Jones discussed how the two veterans make things happen and play very good fundamental defense. “Lakin is a player in the right position and gets a lot of steals by playing defense correctly. Leila is an energizer bunny, she runs all over the place and will make things happen and has done this the last few games and we are happy with the effort she gives.” The duo combined for seven of the team’s ten total steals.
Freshman Trinity Williams caught fire off the bench scoring 15 points shooting 5/12 from 3 and hitting three clutch threes to bring the Lady Vikings within eight with a minute and a half left in the game. Coach Jones said, “she started 0-3 and became discouraged but he told her to keep shooting the ball which helped her gain confidence to catch fire late in the game.”
The Vikings won the second half but unfortunately wasn’t enough as Rock Hill held on to drop the Lady Vikings to 5-9 with a score of 52-41.
The lady Vikings head back on the road on January 18th to take on the 8-6 Nelsonville-York Buckeyes at 7:30 P.M. This will be their second time facing off against each other this season as the Vikings look for revenge after a 46-36 loss to Nelsonville-York at home.