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After a shaky first half, the girls basketball team bounced back to beat B-CC 58–49 Thursday night in their second playoff game, allowing the Vikes to move on to the regional championship.

The game featured the playoff debut of guards Hannah Niles and Marie Hatch, who had missed the team’s last game due to illness and injury. Hatch’s last game had been exactly a month before, also against B-CC, when the team won 71–46.

Coach Peter Kenah said that Hatch’s presence had a positive impact on the team.

“[She was] a calming influence, someone that you really trust out there knows the situations,” he said.

The Vikings were the first to get on the board in the game after forward Livy Meyers got the jump ball to Hatch, who quickly passed to forward Betsy Knox for a three-pointer. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Barons soon responded with three three-pointers to tie the game at 9–9. With their newfound confidence, the Barons won the quarter 15–12.

The second quarter played out in an equally intense manner, often with only a one-point difference between the teams. Thanks to the Barons’ many three-pointers, they finished the half ahead 29–27.

“It was like a flashback to two years ago, when we were also the number one seed playing Kennedy and we were down one at the half,” Kenah said.

In the second half, the Vikings appeared to surge: guard Abby Meyers regained momentum to score 15 of the Vikes’ 23 points in the third quarter. The team also improved on defense to allow the Barons only four points, taking the score to 50–33.

B-CC attempted to recover from their deficit during the fourth quarter, and successfully held off the Vikes—until Livy Meyers picked up her scoring with four minutes left. The Barons continued their attack, and although they scored twice as much as the Vikings during the quarter, they were not able to take the lead at any point.

The girls will take on the Clarksburg Coyotes for the regional championship at Blair 3:00 Saturday following the boys game against the Coyotes.