Second Quarter Stumble Proves Costly

After a rough go versus Columbia Basin College, the Lady Vikes hoped to get back to playing the quality basketball they had displayed over the handful of games prior to the CBC matchup.

The Lady Vikes hosted the Spokane Falls Sasquatch on Wednesday February 7th at the Devries Activity Center hoping to get back on track. As Head Coach Preston Wilks has highlighted again and again, it starts with the defense. In this matchup, the Viking defense got off to an electric start holding Spokane to 3-18 shooting in the first quarter giving them a 16-11 lead after the first 10 minutes led by Katie Hansen scoring 6 of the 16 BBCC points. 

The second half took a true 180 degree turn as the Spokane offense turned it around shooting 60% from the floor while BBCC took a step back only managing 10 points on 29% shooting going into the break. After getting off to a stellar start the Lady Vikes found themselves in a hole down 34-26 after the first 20 minutes.

BBCC needed to get back on track in the second half and entered a true back and forth defensive battle with both teams locking down the opposing offense. With both teams shooting in the mid thirties from the floor, BBCC was able to make up a little ground outscoring The Falls 13-12 in the third quarter. 

Going into the final 10 minutes down 7, the Lady Vikes needed to find a way to stymie the Sasquatch offense while producing on the offensive end. The Viking offense did their part but were unable to make any headway resulting in a tough loss with a final score of 65-58.

Head Coach Preston Wilks had this to say regarding the turning point in the game.

"We had another strong start to our game, and I'm super pleased that we came out strong. However, the 2^nd quarter was the quarter that turned the momentum as we struggled to finish and were out-rebounded and they on the other hand were hotter than a firecracker and owned the glass."

Although the score did not favor the Vikes, Wilks did highlight the highs and lows of the game stating.

"We definitely had strong moments during the 3^rd and 4^th quarters where we played really well, but we could not keep that momentum going and they always seemed to come up with a big bucket or two just when they needed it. Their bigs are tough and we struggled containing them. Their 2 starting bigs shot a combined 50% from the floor on the evening and it was just too much for us. We thought that we were going to catch them in the last 5 minutes of the game, as we've done in previous games, but they came up with all 3 of their made 3-pointers in the final 4 minutes of the game, which were the nails in the coffin for us."

With back to back losses this was Coach Wilks' message to his team.

"I told the ladies that this game was an outlier for how well we've played over the past 5 games, and that we have to believe that we are better than this and not let this game take the wind out of our sails. Several of our ladies shared a passionate plea with their teammates to not surrender and to keep fighting, which we plan to do. We are looking forward to improving in practice the next 2 days and get ourselves dialed-in for a better performance on Saturday down in Treasure Valley."

BBCC prepares for their longest road trip of the season as they hit the road to Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, OR on Saturday February 10th. 

As always, keep up with the Lady Vikings on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as through the NWACSports Network's livestream video platform, where available.