Sports
Smooth Sailing for Lady Vikings in Sectional Final
By: Tyler Corbit
Posted on:
At half time of Vinton County’s sectional final against River Valley, the fire alarm went off, and most people must have assumed it was due to the sharp shooting from the Lady Vikings.
It was actually burnt popcorn but the Lady Vikes shooting was about as dangerous as that hot movie snack. They cruised to a 62-31 win.
Vinton County (20-1) entered the game having defeated River Valley (6-18) in their two previous contests, and from the jump ball, this game was all VC. The Vikings jumped out to a 19-9 lead after the first stanza, and took off from there.
Vinton County is a young team, more than half of their starting lineup are freshmen, but the stage was not too big for them. Freshman Teagan Bartoe led the team in scoring with 20 shooting 4 of 9 from beyond the arc.
What makes this Vikings so deadly is that anyone can step up on any given night. Today the game was all about junior Josie Ousley.
The captain and three year starter dropped 16 points and forced six turnovers. She was joined by her fellow captain Morgan Bentley who added 10 points.
River Valley was led in scoring by sophomore Hannah Jacks, who scored 10 points.
The Vikings entered the postseason as the sixth ranked division two team in the state. Rod Bentley made it his goal to make sure the team didn’t get ahead of themselves.
“We gotta take this one game at a time, we cannot overlook any games,” Bentley said.
Vinton County went from being below .500 two years ago to now being back to back sectional champions and undefeated conference champions.
The win put Vinton County two wins away from a district title. The next team in their way is the winner of Miami Trace and McClain in the four five matchup. For River Valley, their season comes to a close with a record of 6-18.