Sports
Lady Bulldogs Fall to Undefeated Lady Vikings
By: Joey Madore
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When you’re the undefeated team that is leading the conference standings you can expect to get the best out of your opponent every night you step on the court.
This was the case Thursday night in The Plains as the undefeated Vinton County Lady Vikings (15-0, 8-0 TVC Ohio) traveled to play an inspired opponent and their rivals the Athens Lady Bulldogs (7-10, 2-6 TVC Ohio).
The Lady Bulldogs came into the game Thursday night toward the bottom of the standings but were unphased by their opponents who sit at the top of the conference.
In the first half, the teams exchanged blows and it was tightly contested the entire way. Athens kept the game close with great ball movement and were simply outhustling the Lady Vikings. Athens found themselves only trailing by four heading into the second quarter.
Right before halftime the Lady Bulldogs were trailing by eight and Laura Manderick got the ball at the top of the key and knocked down a three to cut the Vinton County lead to five going into the half. Manderick finished the night with an impressive 20 points along with 11 rebounds for a double-double.
“We played a really good first half. We came out in the first half and had three straight possessions with stops on defense and that was big for us…” said Athens head coach Seth Matheny.
The Lady Vikings started to ramp up the pressure.
Vinton County switched to a full-court press and really tried to speed up the tempo of the game. This caused the Lady Bulldogs to rush offensively and forced them to multiple turnovers and rushed shots.
The Lady Vikings pushed their lead out to double-digits in the third quarter and never looked back as they cruised on to a 63-46 victory to remain undefeated on the season.
“In the second half we tried to be a little too quick, and it led to turnovers and easy buckets for them…” said Matheny.
Tegan Bartoe led the Lady Vikings offensive attack with 16 points. Vinton County continues to roll through the TVC-Ohio and will look to continue this stretch when they take on the Lady Buckeyes from Nelsonville-York on Thursday.
Despite the loss, this was one of Athens’ more impressive showings on the season. They moved the ball well, hit some big shots, and gave the Lady Vikings one of their tougher matchups on the season.
The Lady Bulldogs learned a lot about how well they can really play and will hope to take the momentum from this game with them throughout the rest of the season.
The Lady Bulldogs will look to get back in the win column when they do battle with Jackson on Saturday.