Lady Vikes Look To End Season On High Note

With their final road trip of the year, the Lady Vikes headed down to Walla Walla, WA to face off versus a tough team in the Warriors on Saturday February 24th. With playoffs out of the picture for BBCC, the Lady Vikes hoped to use the final few games to build for the future and prepare for next season. 

The first quarter opened up with the Lady Vikes firing. Shooting an efficient 56% from the floor while knocking down 3 of their 4 shots from beyond the arc put them in a position to go into the second quarter with a lead as the held the Warriors to 47% shooting. The difference maker was the lopsided rebounding with Walla Walla ripping down 12 rebounds to the Lady Vikes 2, with 8 of the 12 coming on the offensive end. With BBCC only taking 9 shots compared to the Warriors 19 in the first quarter, the quality shooting was neutralized as BBCC entered the second quarter trailing 23-16. 

"We had a great 1st quarter and showed a lot of confidence. Walla Walla is such a tough place to play, but these ladies weren't afraid. Our team being all Freshmen actually helped us today to a quick start, because they weren't intimidated at all. It was one of the better starts down in WW we've had in recent memory" stated Head Coach Preston Wilks. 

Down 7 entering the second frame, BBCC hoped to continue the sharp shooting while being able to slow down the Walla Walla offense. The second quarter nearly mirrored the first with Big Bend shooting 50% from the floor while holding the Warriors to 47% shooting, but again Walla Walla owned the boards and stretched the lead going into half time. Wilks had this to say at the break.

"Unfortunately, Walla Walla was really hot from behind the arc in the 2nd quarter, and we were down by 15 going into halftime. We struggled to keep them off the glass, their physicality and strength really hurt us on the boards."

Entering the second half chasing a 15 point deficit, the Lady knew that the difference maker was the glass and the only way to flip the script was to crash the boards. BBCC continued to knock down their shots hitting 43% from the floor. Unfortunately, the Warrior offense began to knock theirs down as well shooting 56% in the third quarter resulting in a 22 point lead in favor of the home team. 

With 10 minutes to BBCC needed to be perfect on both ends. Unfortunately, the offense put together their lowest shooting quarter of the game at 36% which was simply not enough to overcome the 22 point deficit as BBCC fell by a score of 78-55. 

With the finish line in sight for the 2024 campaign, Wilks had this to say regarding the loss and what is ahead.

"Our FG% for the game was good enough to pull off the upset, but when you give a good team like Walla Walla that many more possessions, it comes down to simple math, they're going to win the contest every time. Our biggest emphasis for the day was to simply compete. We did that much better today and I was happy with their effort. I wish we could have boarded better today, we could have gotten out of town with a win because our effort was there and we competed at a high level. We look to finish the season strong by trying our very best to win our final game of the season on Wednesday at home."

BBCC will play their final game of the season at home versus the Wenatchee Valley Knights on Wednesday February 28th at the Devries Activity Center at 5:00pm. 

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