November 25, 2016 at 10:58 a.m.
Deep, talented Redbird squad topples Pecatonica in Vikings' home opener
The Redbirds outscored their hosts 51-10 in the first half, then ended on a 10-2 second half advantage.
Pecatonica School District does not have enough girls compelled to field a jayvee squad for the 2016-2017 season and thus, Monticello (another of the Six Rivers Conference schools exceedingly low on girls basketball participation numbers and who does not have enough to fill a 'varsity squad) sent the Pony jayvees to Blanchardville to play the preliminary contest Thursday - - and will continue to do so regarding many of the opponents on Pec's winter girls' hoops schedule.
Pecatonica sophomore Krin Broshous led coach Bobby Rose's Vikings with five points Friday night in a game where only seven Vikings were available for court action.
"Sarah (Swenson) played about half the year on varsity last year - but Adriana (Johnson) and Jess (Erickson) are really about our only two people with a lot of full time experience," commented coach Rose after the opener.
"And Adriana didn't handle the ball a ton last year and now is transitioning to a new spot - point guard."
"I said three things before tonight's game - to play hard, to play smart and to finish and they did two of three. It's a different speed (at the varsity level). They are just fine athletically - but they don't play at this speed yet. We'll get there. We'll figure it out. Plus, Darlington is a really, really good team - they are greatly improved and they have a really good mix of experienced players and talented kids and they have 30 girls out for basketball."
"We had nine girls tonight but one's injured and another is unable to play, so we just had seven available."
"I told our girls afterward that I've never been more proud of them. They could have put their heads down - but they didn't They were running until the end and were going hard until the final horn. They played hard - and that's a good foundation to build upon."
"We'll work hard now on catching the ball, at being on the right spots on the floor, on boxing out...we'll figure it out," added Rose.
The Vikings travel to Muscoda to battle the Riverdale Chieftains Tuesday, Nov. 29 and play at Cassville on Friday, Dec. 2.
Darlington (fg-ft-tp): Steiner 3-0-6, Norton 0-2-2, Smith 1-0-2, Fitzsimons 1-0-2, McDonald 2-0-4, Mathias 5-1-11, Crist 1-1-3, T. Rankin 9-1-19, Douglas 1-1-3, K. Rankin 2-0-5, Meyers 2-0-4, Kelly 2-0-5, Golackson 1-0-2. Three-pointers: Kelly, K. Rankin. Totals: 27 (2) 6-9 66.
Pecatonica (fg-ft-tp): Johnson 1-0-2, Erickson 1-0-2, Knutson 1-1-3, Broshous 2-0-5. Three-pointers: Broshous. Totals 4 (1) 1-3 12.
