With just three and a half minutes left in Friday night’s basketball game, things were looking pretty good for the Hopkins girls’ varsity.
The Lady Vikings had just taken their largest lead of the evening, nine points, at 37-28, on a rebound putback by freshman center Mady Weber. They had clawed their way back to take the lead after falling behind 11-2 early in the second quarter.
But that’s when the wheels came off. Hopkins failed to score a single point the rest of the way, and even worse, watched visiting Allendale scored the game’s last 13 points unanswered to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, 41-37.
The Hopkins offensive performance was virtually the same in the early going as it was at the end — dismal. The Vikings scored only two points in the entire first period on an inside bank shot by Kara Noble. They went eight minutes without scoring in the first and second quarters before Weber ended the drought to trim the deficit to 11-4. Senior guard Evangelina Helderop then stole the ball and was fouled, dropping in two free throws to make it 11-6. Noble added a layup to close the gap to 11-8 and then she tossed a nifty pass inside an open Maya Kerber for an easy two.
By halftime, Hopkins was down only 13-11.
The third quarter belonged to senior Olivia Sebright who scored often along the baseline, sometimes taking some passes from Helderop. The Vikings outscored the Falcons 17-10 in that eight-minute stretch and took a 28-23 advantage into the final quarter.
Sebright continued to score during the first half of the period and Weber started to dominate the boards, as Hopkins began to pull away. Then everything collapsed, particularly offensively, and Allendale point guard Hannah Schroeder took over.
Schroeder scored a basket, then came up with a three-point play to tighten the count at 37-33. The Vikings were whistled for a 10-second violation against a full-court press. Grace Rosser, a 6-foot forward then nailed a three to make it 37-36 at the 1:30 mark.
Schroeder swished a pair of free throws about 30 seconds later to give the Falcons back the lead and made three free throws in the last minute along with a steal to seal the deal.
Sebright came up with 15 points for the evening and Weber had six. Schroeder had 16 and Rosser belied her towering stature be scoring 11 points on three threes.
The loss evened Hopkins’ overall record at 3-3 at the holiday break. The Lady Vikings won’t be back in action until Friday, Jan. 10.
COVER PHOTO: Olivia Sebright looks for an avenue to pass the ball. She had a big night along the baseline, scoring 15 points.