The Hopkins girls’ varsity basketball team, winner of its last six ballgames consecutively, is in a serious hunt for an O-K Silver Conference championship.
The Lady Vikings Thursday night stepped outside league play to deal visiting West Michigan Lutheran a 55-16 defeat in a rout over a team that entered the contest with a 4-1 overall season record. The game was not in doubt from the get-go, as senior forward Mikayla Bulich swished a free throw and dropped in a layup and junior point guard Kennedy Helderop canned a three-pointer in the first two and a half minutes to stake Hopkins to a 6-0 lead.
Meanwhile, senior center Meghan Schulz didn’t seem to have anyone challenging her underneath the basket and she collected seven rebounds in the first three and a half minutes.
By the time the first period buzzer sounding the Lady Vikings were up 15-4 and they never looked back. At one time they put 16 unanswered points on the scoreboard .
At intermission, Schulz had scored eight points and Helderop five as the home team was enjoying a 32-8 cushion.
The Vikings went into a bit of an offensive swoon in the third quarter, but still led by 31 points, 47-16, going into the final eight minutes.
Coach John Robinson substituted freely throughout the game and watched the scoring spread out evenly. The Mustangs dressed only seven players.
Bulich took game individual scoring honors with 15 points, mostly on fast breaks off steals. Helderop also was a beneficiary of fast breaks and finished with nine points.
Though she played only a little more than half the game, Schulz hauled down 14 rebounds and scored 10 points. Sophomore southpaw Samantha Sebright nailed a couple of threes and had eight points, Caitlin Rodanhisler contributed seven off the bench and Keelan Kilbane had six.
So Hopkins, now 7-4 overall, will take on Kelloggsville at 6 p.m. Friday in another O-K Silver Conference battle, on the Rockets’ floor. A week later the Vikings will take on North Pointe Christian. If they can win these next two encounters, they’ll be in the driver’s seat for the conference title as the leader after the first round and a 5-0 Silver record.
Wyoming Lee is not fielding a team this year.
