Sports
Vinton County Survives Potential Upset to Meigs
By: Jordan Gallagher
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Grit, determination, heart and character. They each stand as a different form of the same cliché, but like every cliché, they have their roots in their truth and that truth was no more evident than tonight as the Vinton County Lady Vikings survived an early 18-2 run en route to a 54-47 win and a postseason victory over the Meigs Lady Marauders.
Before that 18-2 run the Lady Vikings came out strong taking a 6-0 lead and looked like were going to take control early on. In a way they were unable to in their previous game against the Lady Marauders. However, a layup from Madison Fields changed the outcome of the game early on in the first quarter.
After the game Meigs coach Scott Cleland said that he thought Lady Vikings coach Rod Bentley looked nervous and that he figured that would translate to his players as well and it certainly appeared to as the Lady Vikings looked hapless on both the offense and defensive end in the first quarter.
By the end of the second quarter the quarter the lead still remained in the hand of Meigs, who used its pressure defense to shut down Vinton County inside and on the offensive help had some big help from Madison Hendricks, who had nine points in the half. On the defensive side of the ball Devin Humphreys was the star for Meigs early on posting six blocks in the first half and absolutely dominating inside.
Then the third quarter hit and the Vikings they hit hard starting the quarter on a 17-2 run. That run was helped by strong play from Michaela Puckett who hit two threes to start the half and took over the game. Jalen Hale also chipped in driving to the basket and finally created an inside presence for Vinton County by fighting her way to the foul line and hitting layups to earn herself 16 points on the night.
“I got on them a little bit, these seniors love each other and we love our kids here,” Bentley said. “I didn’t want that to be our last game and they realized that and we feel that we are better than Meigs and we should be able to win this.”
With Vinton County holding a 10 point lead going into the final frame it was gut check time for the Lady Marauders and they gave it everything they had using a trap defense to force turnovers on the Lady Vikings, Meigs also used the three point line to make up points quickly. Both of the attempts worked as with just a minute left Meigs were only down by three. They were unable to complete the miracle in end though as the bigger Lady Viking team simply outfought them in the end.
The Lady Vikings next challenge will come against the 15-4 No. 2 seeded Sheridan Lady Generals this Saturday at 12:15 p.m. at Logan High School.