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Although county games are put on hold during the winter holidays, the Viking basketball teams didn’t take any time off. Both the girls and boys teams competed in the Salisbury Governor’s Challenge, a statewide showcase of the state’s best teams. The girls went 1–1 while the boys were 0–2.
Girls
Girls basketball (6–3) lost to the St. John’s Cadets 43–62 on Saturday and beat the Stephen Decatur Seahawks 77–33 on Monday in the Challenge.
In their first game against the Cadets, the girls got off to a strong start, jumping to a 19–6 lead at the end of the first quarter.But in the second quarter, the Cadets used a trap defense which allowed them to score seven points in the first minute of the quarter. They ultimately outscored the Vikes 26–3 in the second quarter alone, and the Vikes trailed 32–22 going into the half.
“They played a strong zone which kind of threw us off our game,” guard Marie Hatch said.
In the second half, the Vikes couldn’t muster a comeback, and scored fewer points than the Cadets in both the third and fourth quarter. Guard Abby Meyers led the team with 16 points, and guard Hannah Niles contributed 11 points.
In the second game against the Seahawks, the girls came out determined to improve off their last loss. Eight different players scored in the first half, which led to a 46–22 lead at the half. The Vikes ramped up the pressure even more in the second half, holding the Seahawks to just 11 points. Again, eight different players scored for the Vikes in the second half.
“We played well for short periods against St. John’s, but against [Stephen Decatur] we played really well for the full game,” Hatch said.
Meyers scored a game-high 19 points, Hatch scored 14 points and forward Betsy Knox added 13 points in the winning effort. The team returns back to division play against the Churchill Bulldogs Friday at 7:15.
Boys
The boys basketball team lost to the New Town Titans 34–57 on Tuesday and lost to the St. John’s Catholic Prep Vikings 65–68 on Wednesday in the Challenge, dropping their record to 4–4 on the season.
In their first game against the defending 1A state champ Titans, the Vikes struggled to get anything going offensively. After the first quarter, they were down 5–16. But they held their own against New Town, the number two team in Baltimore. The team went into the half only down 25–18.
In the second half, the Titans firepower proved to be too much for the Vikes to handle. Their backcourt devastated the Vikes, with their top two guards combining to score 35 points and a triple-double. The Titans outscored them by eight in each the third and fourth quarter. The first game of the tournament ended 57–34 in favor of New Town.
Guard Shaq Diboti-Lobe lead the team with seven points, and guard Hannes Kogelnik added six points on two threes, yet the Vikes only shot 20 percent from the field.
In the second game, the Vikes hung neck and neck with St. John’s Catholic Prep. SJCP opened the first quarter with a 21–13 lead, but the Vikes came crawling right back into it, closing the gap to a 31–28 deficit heading into the half. The two teams traded baskets in the third and fourth quarter, with neither side able to gain an edge.
The squad found themselves in a tied game, 65–65, with under ten seconds left in the game. But with just three and a half seconds to go, SJCP drilled a go-ahead three pointer to seal their victory.
Diboti-Lobe again led the team with a stellar 26 points, while Kogelnik added 12 points on four three-pointerss and forward Max Oppenheim put up 11 points, and the team shot a significantly better 52 percent from the field.
“Our first game our energy wasn’t there,” forward Sam Kapner said. “But over the next day and half around Salisbury we piped things up and played a very good second game.”
Despite going 0–2 in the tournament, the Vikes were still able to display their talent. Diboti-Lobe came in third place in the tourney’s dunk contest, and Kogelnik won the three-point contest. When the team returns from break, they’ll host the Landon Bears on Tuesday at 7:15.