Lady Vikes end preseason on high note

MOSES LAKE — Coming off of a short Christmas break, the Lady Vikes got back right into it by playing three games in three days in the Skagit Valley Classic.

The Lady Vikes came out of the gate sluggish versus Skagit Valley CC, and struggled greatly to get the offense going in game one. The first quarter was disastrous for the BBCC offense, shooting 1-12 from the field and only managing 5 points over the first 10 minutes of play. The second quarter showed improvement, although shooting 4-25 in the first half made a comeback a daunting task. Trailing 26-14 at the half, the Lady Vikes knew they would have to turn it around quickly if there was any hope of stealing a victory. The third quarter was their best quarter, shooting 7-11, followed by a fourth quarter resembling the first half in going 2-8 from the floor. Struggling from all areas of the floor shooting 30% from the field, 20% from deep and 53% from the free throw line resulted in a 60-39 loss for the Lady Vikes to open up the weekend.

Knowing that it would take a handful of games to knock off the winter break rust, BBCC hoped to take a step forward as they took on Green River CC. The Lady Vikes again struggled from the floor but managed to go into halftime down by two. BBCC battled in the third quarter and went into the fourth and final quarter down by three. Needing to put together their best quarter of the weekend to give them a chance, the offense continued to struggle as Green River secured the victory by a score of 67-57. Kali Kast put together a stellar showing dropping 21 points while grabbing 11 rebounds along with Katie Hansen chipping in with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the loss. 

The final game of the weekend was the Lady Vikes' opportunity to end the preseason on a high note going into conference play. Coming off of a couple of tough losses, BBCC knew the offense needed to step their game up and did just that. The Lady Vikes shot 48% from the floor, 36% from beyond the arc and 83% from the charity stripe putting them in a spot to secure a victory. Melissa McCauley dropped a season-high 22 points along with grabbing six rebounds, Katie Hansen managed 16 points, six rebounds and three assists while Kali Kast rounded off the scoring with 14 points and eight rebounds as the Lady Vikes soared to a win with a score of 86-62.

Big Bend opens the conference slate Saturday at 2 p.m. on the road against Columbia Basin.