THUNDER BAY – The Hammarskjold Vikings learned a valuable lesson on Saturday – don’t take any opponent for granted.
The Vikings, coming off a 37-point win over the Fort Frances Muskies in Game 1 of their best-of-three NORWASSA girls basketball, struggled in Game 2 but figured things out in the fourth and eked out a 41-35 win to sweep the series and earn a date at the OFSSA championship later this week in London, Ont.
Guard Hana Whalen, who fought her shot for the opening three quarters, responded with eight points in the fourth, finishing with 15 to lead the Vikings to the victory.
It’s the result that mattered, Whalen said.
“We kind of came out today thinking that it was going to be an easier game, especially considering yesterday wasn’t very close. So our defence kind of showed that. We were kind lazy, but we were able to pick it up a bit in the second half, which I think helped us a little bit,” Whalen said.
The teen admitted she wasn’t making the best decisions in the early going of the contest, which saw eight lead changes in the second half alone.
“I was a bit selfish in the first half, but we started to move the ball around a little bit and I realized I could get open better that way,” said Whalen, who hit a key three-pointer two minutes into the fourth after the Muskies Jamie Spencer and Ellie Petsnick hit back-to-back baskets to open the final frame, Spencer’s coming from beyond the arc.
The Vikings took the lead for good when Danielle Charles banked a long three off the backboard. A pair of Whalen buckets upped the lead to eight, putting the game all but out of reach.
Vikings coach Bruno Corbin said he wasn’t surprised his team took their foot off the gas after Friday’s 58-21 triumph.
“That happens a lot when you have one game that’s lopsided, especially when Fort Frances is a pretty athletic team. When you have that, you give yourself a chance and defensively we weren’t moving our feet,” Corbin said. “(The Muskies) were certainly working hard and everything went in, especially in the first half, for them. So that played a role in having the game so close.”
Corbin said all the credit belongs to the athletes on the floor for pulling through when it mattered most.
“They’ve had a really good season. We’ve been in three finals in three tournaments, won two and only lost one game locally,” he said.
The Muskies quickly showed it was going to be a different ballgame than the opener.
Janissa Judson and Grace Petsnick opened with back-to-back three-pointers, staking Fort Frances to an early 6-0 lead. But the Vikings rolled off nine straight point, taking the lead on a Charles three-pointer three minutes into the contest, played at the Hammarskjold High School gym.
The Vikings led 11-8 after one and clung to a 22-18 lead at the half, Amy Stieh scoring just before the buzzer sounded. She’d do it again late in the third to restore a one-point Hammarskjold lead, the Vikings hitting the final quarter up 28-27. Stieh finished with 10 points in the game.
Spencer led the Muskies with eight points.
