Lady Vikes pick up a pair of wins
WAUSA — The Wausa girls basketball team is starting to get the hang of this winning thing.
The Lady Vikings have now won three of their last five contests after beating Santee 53-40 and rival Randolph 46-30 to move to 3-10 this season.
“We came out this week and handled business like we should,” Wausa head coach Capp Bengston said. “We had been working really hard the past few weeks on our man defense and when Monday came around, we decided to see how it looked in a game situation. Man-to-man can be very difficult to run if everyone is not on the same page and working together. “You have to communicate, you have to limit the amount
“You have to communicate, you have to limit the amount of times you get beat off the dribble, and overall you just have to be very sound on every possession. Against Santee, I thought we did a good job of pressuring the basketball in the half court, and we rebounded tremendously.” The defensive effort was not always perfect and Bengston
The defensive effort was not always perfect and Bengston noted that better opposition could “make us pay” for the smaller errors in reaction timing going forward.
Against Santee, Blair Wakeley (22 points), Abby Kaiser (nine points) and Alexa Cunningham (eight points, 15 rebounds) led the way.
In the win over Randolph, Sienna West (13 points, five rebounds), Wakeley (12 points, six rebounds), Kaiser (nine points, nine rebounds) and Cunningham (five points, eight rebounds) were the catalysts.
“We really brought it on the defensive end,” Bengston said. “We were loud, we denied one pass away when their ball handler was dead, and we had girls diving for loose balls. It was great to see. We were locked in and intense throughout. Offensively we got a ton of good looks and shots just didn’t fall. It was one of our worst shooting performances of the year, but when you can shoot poorly and still win, that’s a good sign.” Bengston said the Lady Vikings continue to make progress
Bengston said the Lady Vikings continue to make progress and the coach’s concepts are beginning to take hold. “They prepare very hard and are detailed in practice, and
“They prepare very hard and are detailed in practice, and when you are that detailed in practice, it makes doing your job in games very easy,” he said. “We still have a lot of room to grow which excites me for this group.”
Cunningham said the Lady Vikings are relieved to earn these wins.
“They were teams we were supposed to beat, but they were still wins, (that matter) because of how we had been doing so far,” she said. “So, we are pretty hyped about it. It’s more the need to feel what it feels like to win again.
“(Randolph) only had six girls. It feels good to beat a rival and we were OK with it, but in the end, it was a win, and we were happy about it, but not a huge win because we were playing six total girls. We had a whole bench to keep playing.”
Cunningham said the wins are nice, but the Lady Vikings are keeping things in perspective. “We have more to work on and as long as we keep crashing
“We have more to work on and as long as we keep crashing the boards more and start being more aggressive rebounding, we can show teams we are scrappy and we can play with them,” Cunningham said, noting the team’s defense is still the calling card. “We need to finish possessions. Our defense is what we hang our hat on, so if we can get our offense going as well, we can be a completely different team.”
After playing Elkhorn Valley Tuesday, the Lady Vikings travel to Tri County Thursday and host Winside Friday. “My goals for the week are not to win a certain number of
“My goals for the week are not to win a certain number of games, it is just to keep doing what we’ve been doing in practice,” Bengston said. “If your goal going into a game is to win, then you are setting yourself up for failure. The goal should never be to win. It should be to stay disciplined and detailed on every possession and every rep in practice. Winning is a byproduct of everything you do right. So, our goals should be playing with great effort and enthusiasm, continuing to improve in the rebounding department, and to take and make good shots on offense.”
Santee 5 12 12 11 — 40
Wausa 11 18 14 16 — 59
SCORING Wausa – Blair Wakeley, 22; Abby Kaiser, 9; Alexa Cunningham, 8; Kilee Thorell, 8; Alexis Munter 6; Olivia Barta, 3; Sienna West, 2; Ashlynn Timmerman, 1.
REBOUNDS Wausa – Alexa Cunningham, 15; Kilee Thorell, 8; Hadley Vanness, 7; Anika Alonzo, 5; Abby Kaiser, 4; Teyah Anderson, 3; Alexis Munter, 2; Blair Wakeley, 2; Sienna West, 2; Olivia Barta, 1; Holly Johnson, 1.
ASSISTS Wausa – Anika Alonzo, 2; Alexa Cunningham, 2; Kilee Thorell, 2; Ashlynn Timmerman, 2; Hadley Vanness, 2; Sienna West, 2. STEALS Wausa – Blair Wakeley, 3; Sienna West, 3; Abby Kaiser, 2; Hadley Vanness, 2.
Wausa 13 8 18 7 — 46
Randolph 7 4 10 9 — 30
SCORING Wausa – Sienna West, 13; Blair Wakeley, 12; Abby Kaiser, 9; Alexa Cunningham, 5; Hadley Vanness, 5. Randolph – Jessa Backer, 13; Erin Engel, 7; Jacey Bartels, 6; Emma Munter, 2; Ryanne Winkelbauer, 2.
REBOUNDS Wausa – Abby Kaiser, 9; Alexa Cunningham, 8; Blair Wakeley, 6; Sienna West, 3; Teyah Anderson, 2; Kilee Thorell, 2; Anika Alonzo, 1; Hadley Vanness, 1. Randolph – Erin Engel, 10.
