Lady Vikes Wrap Up 2024 With Blowout Win

With the final game of the 2024 season in front of them, the Lady Vikes looked to end the 2024 campaign on a high note. A season full of peaks and valleys tested the young group, with the silver lining being the ups and downs would create an experienced core group for next season. BBCC hosted the Wenatchee Valley College Knight on Wednesday February 28th at the Devries Activity Center and played like it was their last.

A slow opening quarter for both teams had both squads shooting right around 30% gave neither team an edge after the first 10 minutes with Wenatchee outscoring the Lady Vikes by score of 14-10. Brooklyn Hulet led the offense with 6 out of the 10 BBCC points on a perfect 3-3 shooting. 

With a rather uneventful first quarter the Lady Vikes turned up the heat and exploded on both side of the ball. Katie Hansen and Kali Kast were able to knock down two deep balls a piece while the Viking defense put together one of their best defensive quarter of the season holding the Knight to just 6 points in the second frame. With both the offense and defense doing their part, the Wenatchee lead was erased and BBCC went into the break with a lead of 24-20.

After gaining momentum going into half time, the Lady Vikes hoped to keep it rolling going into the second half. The third quarter mirrored the second as BBCC did not miss a beat. Not only was the offense cruising as they knocked down four more shots from beyond the arc, but the defense held the Knights to 2 of 9 shooting stretching the Viking lead to 16 going into the final frame. 

With a healthy lead, the Lady Vikes simply needed to play clean basketball to wrap up their season with a victory. Not only did they play clean ball with just two turnovers, they put together their best offensive quarter of the game dropping 22 points on 50% including another four three balls. With the offense rolling, the defense took care of business holding Wenatchee to just ten points and setting a season low in points given up with just 37, in a 65-37 victory. Head Coach Preston Wilks had this to say regarding the season finale.

"Coming in to this game, we were really committed to the mind set of finishing the season strong. We adopted the mind set of "the best view comes after the hardest climb" which for us meant we wanted to go out and work as hard as we could tonight, so we could really relish our final game and the end of the season. And I don't think we could have achieved any better, what we set out to do with this game. In the locker room afterwards, it was so rewarding and satisfying to know that we held an East Region team to only 37 points. I know we shot the ball really well from the arc tonight and that was really fun, but our defensive effort was the icing on the cake for us. What a fantastic effort tonight by these ladies and what a tremendous way to end the season."

With brighter days ahead, the young group is eager for what next season holds, Wilks added to his earlier comment stating.

"At the end of today's shoot-around, Katie Hansen, one of our captains, asked to talk. She emphasized to the team that this game did have consequences for us. Sure, we didn't make one of our top goals of getting to the playoffs, but she said that how we end this season is where we begin the next season and will set the tone for the off-season. I was impressed by her leadership today and that is what we all needed to hear. We are satisfied with what we accomplished considering the roster was made up of only freshmen. We fully anticipate that these ladies will use this valuable experience to work towards a playoff trip next season. The future looks really good for our program."

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