Sports
Lady Blue Lions End Lady Vikings Season
By: Ryan Burg
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The Washington Court Blue Lions ended the Vinton County Lady Vikings postseason the previous year. They faced off against each other in the same part of the postseason, but the Vikings were looking for redemption.
The Lady Vikings undefeated in the state of Ohio and ranked sixth in the state. Despite everything stacking up in Vinton County’s favor, that didn’t faze Washington Courthouse’ determination to make it to regionals.
The Lady Vikings in the first half were forcing shots out of the Lady Blue Lions hands and taking advantage of it. Vinton County was controlling the game with big plays on offense and defense and closed the half 23-18 with promise in the second half.
The Lady Vikings were getting a lot of help from players Morgan Bentley and Josie Ousley. Josie helped the Lady Vikings a lot in the first half but then started to slow down in the second. She ended the game with 8 points and three rebounds. Morgan was crucial for Vinton County as she ended the game with 17 points and nine rebounds, just short of having a double-double.
The third quarter was a big turning point for Washington Court House with a huge injury that affected the rest of their game plan. In the middle of the third, point guard Reanna Burns was going up for a block and landed awkwardly on her ankle. She fell directly to the floor and held her ankle with a painful expression on her face. The stands fell silent and filled with concern to the young star player. With wishes of recovery, both teams comforted her as she was rolled off the court on a stretcher. She suffered a very serious ankle injury.
After the injury, the Lady Lions knew they had to change up their game plan up after a crucial loss to their offense. They started to move the ball a lot more and eventually took their first lead in the deep fourth. Vinton County was chasing to gain their lead back with tight defense and fast offense, but it just wasn’t enough to cut down the net, falling 47-45 to the Lady Blue Lions.
With a tough loss head coach Rod Bentley is already looking forward towards the offseason for next year. He wants the team to be “hungry in the offseason, we look at the offseason as our most important part of our season.”
Despite the loss, Rod is always proud of his girls. “They’re winners … they’re winners in the classroom, they’re winners on the basketball court, they play hard and they compete,” Rod said.