By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

LINDSBORG – It was a great show of basketball in Lindsborg on Friday as the Smoky Valley girls rallied in the final eight minutes of their game to score a 60-54 victory while the Smoky Valley boys rallied late but came up short and lost 50-41.

For the season, the win gives the Lady Vikings a 13-6 record while the Viking boys drop to 10-9 as the two teams prep to close out the regular season on Tuesday with a road trip to Pratt.

4th QUARTER RALLY SCORES WIN FOR LADY VIKINGS

Haven came to town and gave the Smoky Valley girls a game as they lead the Lady Vikings by five, 16-11, at the end of the first quarter and by seven, 34-27, at the halftime break.

The Lady Vikings were able to chisel a couple of points off the deficit by the end of the third quarter and only trailed by five, 47-42 heading into the final eight minutes of play where they then poured 18 points into the scorebook while holding the visitors to just seven and gaining the final six-point, 60-54 win.

“We had to make some serious adjustments on the defensive side because we were putting Haven on the line and as you could see, they shoot exceedingly well from the charity stripe,” said Lady Viking head coach Jason Drouillard. “We needed to be more disciplined and adjust to how the game was being called. One of our messages to the team has been that it comes down to them and that no one else will decide for them how they finish the season, and that mindset influenced the girls in the second half.”

While both teams shot the ball well from the field with Smoky Valley connecting 47% of the time while Haven was shooting 40%, that free throw line was where Haven shined the most as they hit 12-of-13 for 92%.

The Lady Vikings dominated the boards, out rebounding Haven 32-20.

Individually, Adrian Hazelwood had a huge game for Smoky Valley as she led the team in scoring with 21 points while dishing out a team high five assists, connecting on a pair of three-pointers and pulling down six rebounds. Breanna Priddy had another solid game as well with 13 points and three steals while Tinley Scott drained three three-pointers and just missed double digits with nine points.

Katja Blanchat and Gracie Lambert helped Hazelwood dominate the boards as Blanchat led the team with seven and Lambert grabbed six.

Coach Drouillard concluded his post-game reflections by adding, “Keira (Mullen) took defense to a whole new level against Haven’s top scorer and made her a non-factor in the second half. Coach Lindshield deserves a ton of credit as she made a call for offense that really got us going and it opened a weakness, which we saw the girls then do a great job of going on the attack. I loved that we had seven different girls score, and I thought they did a tremendous job of creating for each other. Momentum was sealed in our direction when we poked a ball loose and we had three girls diving on the floor, giving every bit of effort they had. We are ecstatic that we could send the seniors out with a win.”

SCORING:                 1          2          3          4          FINAL

Haven                        16       18       13       7          54

LADY VIKINGS          11       16       15       18       60

Haven Team Stats: FG 19/48 (40%); 3-PTR 4/15 (27%); FT 12/13 (92%); AST 12; REBS 20; TO 10; STLS 6; BLK 1; PF 13.

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKING TEAM STATS: FG 21/45 (47%); 3-PTR 6/14 (43%); FT 12/16 (75%); AST 11; REBS 32; TO 13; STLS 7; BLK 4; PF 12.

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKING INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: SCORING (60 total points): Adrian Hazelwood – 21; Breanna Priddy – 13; Tinley Scott – 9; Keira Mullen – 7; Katja Blanchat – 5; Karee Adam – 3; Gracie Lambert – 2. 3-POINTERS MADE (6): Scott – 3; Hazelwood – 2; Adam – 1. ASSISTS: Hazelwood – 5; Mullen, Maliyah Koster – 2. REBOUNDS: Blanchat – 7; Hazelwood, Lambert – 6; Mullen – 4; Adam – 3. STEALS: Priddy – 3; Hazelwood – 2. BLOCKED SHOTS: Hazelwood, Priddy, Blanchat, Catherine O’Dell – 1.

VIKING BOYS GET BEHIND EARLY, LOOSE BY 9

The Smoky Valley boys spotted Haven an eight-point, 12-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and that cost them. Despite both teams scoring 10 points in the second quarter, the Vikings were still trailing by eight at the halftime break.

After Haven extended their lead to 11, 36-25 by the end of the third, even outscoring Haven by a bucket in the final eight minutes was not enough as the Vikings boys took the final nine-point, 50-41 lose.

While Smoky Valley made more shots from the field and shot better overall, the Vikings only made five free throws on 18 attempts while Haven connected on 16-of-25 while also forcing the Viking offense into making 16 turnovers to the visitors only have six.

While Vincent Pickering was the lone Viking to reach double digits in the scorebook, both Haven Lysell-Stewart and Karson Pihl came close with nine each.

SCORING:     1          2          3          4          FINAL

Haven            12       10       14       14       50

VIKINGS        4          10       11       16       41      

Haven Team Stats: FG 15/44 (34%); 3-PTR 3/14 (21%); FT 16/25 (64%); AST n/a; REBS 27; TO 6; STLS 12; BLK 1; PF 9.

SMOKY VALLEY VIKING TEAM STATS: FG 17/41 (41%); 3-PTR 5/18 (27%); FT 2/5 (40%); AST 4; REBS 24; TO 16; STLS 5; BLK 0; PF 17.

SMOKY VALLEY VIKING INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: SCORING (41 total points): Vincent Pickering – 11; Haven Lysell-Stewart – 9; Karson Pihl – 9; Trayton Miller – 6; Lukas Apel – 4; Gus Griffith – 2. 3-POINTERS MADE (5): Pihl, Miller – 2; Pickering – 1. ASSISTS: Pickering, Pihl, Apel, Kade Blanchat – 1. REBOUNDS: Pihl – 7; Apel, Blanchat – 4; Pickering, Lysell-Stewart – 3. STEALS: Pickering – 2; Pihl, Apel, Griffith – 1.