The Hopkins girls’ varsity basketball team had its season record evened at 2-2 overall Tuesday evening with a 48-45 loss at Comstock Park.
The Lady Vikings led 43-40 with just two minutes left in the ballgame, but managed only two free throws by Olivia Sebright down the stretch. Meanwhile, Panther senior standout Emily Heintzelman almost single-handedly brought down Hopkins by swishing a boatload of free throws in the fourth quarter.
Ironically, it was free throws, along with turnovers in the face of defensive pressure, that did in the Lady Vikings. They made only one of their 11 free throw attempts in the first half. Adding to their woes were too many passes that got picked off with Comstock Park’s full-court press.
Hopkins fell behind 24-12 midway in the second quarter, but consecutive threes late in the first half brought the visiting team back, trailing only 24-20 at intermission. The Lady Vikings took a slim lead a couple of times in the third period and early in the fourth, mostly on offensive awakening by 6-1 sophomore Mady Weber, who was held to just three points in the first 16 minutes.
Weber drained three threes and finished with 13 points in the contest and Sebright added 12. But Heintzelman’s heroics down the stretch propelled the Panthers to victory and she scored a game-high 21 points. Maya Kerber added eight points for Hopkins.
The Lady Vikings will be on their home courts at 6 p.m. Friday to entertain Belding.
