The Hopkins girls’ varsity basketball team Friday helped honor the 1975 state runner-up team by turning in a 34-29 triumph.
The Lady Vikings’ squad from 48 years ago was among the Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, along with Lauren Navis, Bruce Michael Wilson and Bill Griffey.
Martin showed its own brand of heroism Friday evening by taking out Galesburg-Augusta 34-28, using only seven players because the others were injured or ill. Defense also dominated Wayland’s contest as it won 43-33 on the road over Kenowa Hills.
The Lady Clippers started slowly, trailing 6-2 at the end of the first quarter and 10-9 at the half, but overtook their opponents 23-18 at the start of the fourth period.
“I’m so proud of our girls for being so mentally tough tonight, beamed coach Ben Schipper. “We were without Cirsten (Coburn) and Elizabeth tonight leaving only seven girls. We played through foul trouble all night long, but kept our composure.
“So many times in this game we could have felt sorry for ourselves or let our frustration affect our play, but we never did. It was such a gritty performance; that is a building block for us.”
Samantha Stone filled in as a starter was 4-for-5 from the free throw line, sinking two in the fourth quarter.
“This game should be a big confidence boost for her. I was also really pleased with Macy Thorne and Hailey Snyder’s minutes off the bench. Those stretches they were on the floor were key for us tonight.
“Makala Goddard did a great job driving from the top of the zone and made crucial baskets down the stretch to extend our lead.
“Our goal was to limit Nord tonight and we held her to 3 points. I was very pleased with our defensive execution.”
Goddard led Martin with a dozen points. Stone finished with six and Avery Jager and Marybeth had five apiece.
Sophomore Harmony Laker scored 12 points to pace Wayland’s offensive attack and freshman Addy Sikorski, senior Maddy Terry and junior Reese Coughlin added nine apiece. The Lady Wildcats now are 9-2 for the season overall and are 3-0 in the O-K Gold Conference standings.
It was a foul-marred contest and Terry made the ‘Cats’ only three-point field goal during the evening.
Hopkins’ defensive-minded win improved its O-K Silver Conference record to 3-0 and 6-3 overall. Martin now is 7-1 for the season overall.
