Sports
Lady Vikings Pillage Buckeyes In Second Half
By: Abbey Carnivale, Megan Stamper
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The Nelsonville-York Lady Buckeyes hosted Vinton County after being almost a week out of competition. This back-and-forth matchup broke open once the Lady Vikings hit the court in the second half, and they ran away with a 68-53 victory.
Both teams traded points the duration of the first half, with Vinton County coming out on top, 34-29, going into halftime.
“Our intensity has to be there every night, and tonight I didn’t see much intensity in every position,” N-Y head coach Amanda Dalton said.
Emotions from players and fans alike ran high as the competition went into the fourth quarter. A series of fouls against N-Y propelled the Vikings to their victory, as they went 22-of-24 from the foul line. Sophomore Jalen Hale led from the charity line with 8 points, contributing to her 16 point total.
Just topping Hale for the Lady Vikings was senior Megan Dixon, with 18 points. Dixon dominated the perimeter as she shot 50 percent in 3-pointers, making up half of her point total.
“She’s played ball all of her life and she just sees so much on the court, and she’s always got an answer for everything, even for me,“ says Mark Dixon, who plays two roles in Megan’s life: as basketball coach and father.
“She’s a smart kid and she knows the game very well and she sees what our team need to do and understands what we can do as a team,” Dixon said.
Junior Madison Davis led the Lady Bucks with 18 points, but was kept in check by Vikings Sophomore Hale with her by crashing the boards. Davis had only eight points in the second half, which would’ve been much higher without Hale’s strong defense.
Athens has clinched first in the TVC-Ohio at 8-0, followed by Vinton County with their win against NY. This matchup broke the tie for second in the TVC-Ohio between the two teams.
“They’re (N-Y) a good team,” Dixon said. “We had to play hard the whole game and we changed a few positions around for our girls. I think it helped us out and we’ll probably keep doing that as long as we can.”
Even with the loss, the Lady Bucks will keep their heads up and eyes on the prize.
“We’ve had a great season so far, so we just have to keep moving forward,” said Dalton.
Next up for Vinton County is Logan on Feb. 3, followed by Meigs on Feb. 6.
The Lady Buckeyes look to shake their end-of-season slump at Chillicothe on Feb. 3, followed by their last TVC-Ohio game of the season against Wellston on Feb. 6.