Lady Vikes basketball ready to make a run at state bid
CHARLO LADY Vikings player Caitlin Cox goes up for a basket in the Western 14-C Divisional "challenge game" against St. Regis at the Ronan Events Center. Cox, and the rest of her Lady Vikings team hope to return to divisionals after narrowily missing qualifying for it last season. (Jason Blasco/Lake County Leader)
Last year, the Charlo Lady Vikings came within one 3-point goal of qualifying for the Western C Divisional basketball tournament.
This year, the team dynamic will be different with eight of the 12 players on the varsity from last season graduating. They will have nine returning players from last year, according to Lady Vikes’ coach Bret Thompson.
Charlo also lost leading goal scorer Cheyenne Nagy to graduation from last season. Because of this change, Thompson said he doesn’t anticipate having a top scorer nightly and his whole team will have to score more.
“We will lose our leading scorer from last year and I don’t see us having one person that is probably going to fill that roll,” Thompson said. “This year it will be a little bit more by committee approach.”
Thompson and his Lady Vikings anticipate being young this season as they prepare to head into the 2017-2018 girl’s basketball campaign.
“We are really young and we will be mostly all sophomores this year,” Thompson said. “We have a big group of them. We will have two seniors. Most of our varsity roster will be made up of juniors and a couple of sophomores and freshmen that will be playing on the varsity.”
The start of the basketball season is a chance to evaluate a lot of talent. Because of the team’s versatility on the floor this year, Thompson anticipates he will have a combination of offenses on the floor all season.
“We aren’t even close to solidifying our roster and I am not even sure if we will solidify it at the end of the year,” Thompson said. “There are a lot of girls on our team that are very even skill-wise. Some of them are older and wiser, and some of the younger players are a little younger and quicker. That is a pretty good makeup of players and no group this year is going to be our best group. It will take us a while to establish our roster. I’ve got about ten girls that will legitimately have a chance at starting.”
The players who will get more time on Thompson’s roster will be those that showcase they are the most consistent throughout the course of the season.
“Every night it will be a little different and it will depend on who shows up each and every night,” Thompson said. “The players that are consistent will get the most time. It is very nice to know that I will have people that can come off the bench and can fill right in for them.”
The Lady Vikings will look to qualify for Divisionals as they start to the 2017-2018 season.