A solid defensive effort and the depleted ranks of O-K Silver Conference co-leader Kelloggsville led to a girls’ basketball upset at Hopkins Friday night.
The Vikings, who lost 55-39 at Kelloggsville last month, turned the tables on the Rockets and registered a 59-33 verdict that knocked them out of a tie with Calvin Christian for first in the league standings. The victory improved the Lady Vikings’ record to 9-7 overall and 6-3 in the conference while K-Ville fell to 12-4 overall and 7-2 in the league.
To be fair, the visiting unit was playing without sophomore star Brea Ana Smalley, but pesky defense was another key to victory.
Senior point guard Evangelina Helderop, who had a big night being elected queen of the Winter Follies and scoring eight points, pestered Kelloggsville point guard Trayana Starr-Thurman, almost wearing her out while just trying to being the ball across the time line. She did score 13 points, but had to earn every one.
Meanwhile, freshman pivot Mady Weber limited the Rockets’ other big gun, Nariah Collier, to just nine points.
The offensive ringleader for Hopkins was senior Samantha Sebright, who canned a couple of threes and finished with a dozen points. Weber added nine.
The Lady Vikings led 13-8 at the end of the first quarter and were up 19-13 at intermission. They really opened things up in the third period, taking leads of as many as 20 points. They scored 16 of the first 18 points of the second half and then held on to claim the triumph.
