Give the Lady Vikings credit. They clawed and fought all night long. They dove for loose balls and swarmed the court with pressure defense.
But, in the end, it wasn’t quite enough as the Northside girls fell to the Lady Cougars from Patrick County 60-53 in the Group AA Division 3 quarterfinal at the Salem Civic Center Friday night.
Northside, despite a 11-15 record coming into the game, was definitely no pushover. After trailing 30-25 at the half,the Vikings found their shots , outscoring Patrick County 15-10 in the third quarter to forge a 40-all tie heading into the final frame.
The Lady Vikings seemed to have Patrick County just where they wanted as they took a 44-43 lead early in the final quarter, and had Cougar sharpshooter Kylene Culler (27 points) sitting on the bench with four personal fouls.
But,Northside suddenly lost their shooting touch which led to a 11-2 Patrick County run. The Vikings, down 8,were never able to recover and could not get the deficit below 6 points the rest of the way.
Northside was led in scoring by Candice Smith (18 points) and Morgan Allen (17 points), two among nine Viking seniors who played their final game in the familiar Northside green.
Story and photo by Bill Turner [email protected]
