Lady Vikings faced stiff competition at state

The Charlo Lady Vikings' bid for a state championship came to a halt last weekend after running into stiff competition, but the team finished with a fantastic 23-3 record for the year, and the divisional title.

The girls faced Chester Thursday night and were held to only 29 points — one of their lowest outings of the season. Head coach Bret Thompson said the man-to-man defense the girls faced ended up giving them trouble, even though the Lady Vikes had been so successful against it during the regular season.

"We had the most problems when both teams started playing man-to-man. When they went to a zone, we started scoring against them, which was the reverse of what happened during the regular season," Thompson said.

The Lady Vikings couldn't recover from a 14-point run by Chester in the second quarter, compared to just six points by Charlo, and ultimately fell 43-29.

Against Chester, the team was led by Stevie-Leigh Sammons and Jessica Bucholz, both of whom scored seven points. Ma'Rya Hungerford and Samijo Kain both had three, Amanda Murphy had five, and Hayley Carr and Rhondell Esterby had two each.

"Chester played more like we do, with ball pressure out front. We just didn't do a very good job of taking care of the ball. There were lots of turnovers," Thompson said.

The Lady Vikes played a lot better for the first three and a half quarters against Broadview in loser-out action Friday, but couldn't close the door, ultimately losing in overtime after having an eight-point lead late in the game.

"On our last possessions against Broadview, we missed lay-ups and turned the ball over. We had a chance to win the game on a set play at the end, but ended up turning the ball over," Thompson said.

Given a second chance, Broadview came out and outscored the Lady Vikes 14-5 in OT, to take the 58-49 win.

"I'm sure the other teams are thinking they made the difference, but from my perspective we made things too easy," Thompson said.

Carr came alive to score 15, Murphy had six, Hungerford had three, Bucholz had seven, Esterby had four, Kain scored seven, Sammons had four, Shianne Montgomery had one and Megan Harriman had a pair for the team.

The team will lose Kendra Coburn, Esterby and Bucholz to graduation, but will have a host of talent, including four juniors, returning next year.

"That's what the state tournament is all about. Every team there is a good team. It wasn't necessarily a matter of what we didn't do, but what they did. But we didn't make adjustments," Thompson said. "We had a good season though. I'm proud of the team."