Vikings claim region championship
· Yahoo Sports
Feb. 27—MOSES LAKE — In their final home game of the season, the Big Bend Community College Lady Vikings earned a 65-61 victory over the Yakima Valley Yaks to claim the region championship.
Following the victory, the Vikings begin to prepare for a postseason push in the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament.
Visit cat-cross.com for more information.
"It's a lot of relief," said Vikings sophomore Kaliyah Evans. "That game was really messy at first, but we came back and it was a full team win."
The game started out with Yakima Valley taking an early lead over Big Bend in the first quarter. By the end of the first 10 minutes, the Yaks had gained a 10-point lead over the Vikings.
BBCC worked to climb back in the second quarter through an offensive front, but Yakima remained vigilant in disrupting the Vikings' efforts. By the end of the half Big Bend was down 26-34.
During halftime, Evans said the Vikings changed their focus to work harder on defense and rebounding. The discussion also became about utilizing everyone at their disposal to come back and take the win.
"It was really just a debate of, do we want this or not," she said. "We decided we all wanted to leave it on the court. This is our last home game and we wanted to finish it right."
The Vikings dug deep after halftime and shifted the momentum in their favor. In a full team effort, they scored 22 points in the third quarter to claim the lead 48-47.
"We all started shooting and rebounding as a team," said Vikings freshman Emily Dana. "We just all decided to show up and we wanted that win for us."
Yakima Valley continued to fight in the fourth quarter as the two teams went back and forth across the court. Big Bend concluded their rally as they gained possession of the ball up four points with 10 seconds left and sophomore Oakley Homer ran out the clock to claim the team victory.
Kaliyah Evans was the top scorer for the Vikings scoring 18 points by the end of the game. Emily Dana and Oaklie Jackman were close behind with 12 points each, with Dana going 4-9 at the three-point line and Jackman making 11 rebounds and four blocks.
Vikings Head Coach Preston Wilks said that it was a surprise to be down for most of the game, but the events of the matchup were a fitting example of what the coaching staff has been working to build this season.
"We've been trying to get the girls to believe that you never give up," said Wilks. "You keep on working and good things are always going to go your way and that's how the game went. We never gave up, we kept working, we got a little bit better every quarter, and the game went our way."
He said everyone on the Vikings squad is feeling a sense of relief coming out of the regular season and heading into the postseason. With Big Bend sitting as one of the top teams in the conference all season long, every team came into their matchups ready to earn a statement victory.
"That's a burden, man, to wear that target and everybody bring their best every night," said Wilks. "At times we did really good, down the stretch we won a couple close games, but that's how basketball goes, teams get up for you."
One of the biggest struggles for the Vikings came after losing freshman Brooke Warren in the last few weeks of the regular season. This loss was what had everybody on the team change their mindset to each step up and give even more each game.
The buy-in to believe that they would win the region championship changed the dynamic of BBCC for the better in the last bit of the regular season as every player stepped in and did their job in any given matchup. Wilks said this would not have been possible without the team chemistry.
"Without a doubt in my 19 years, this is the most united team," said the coach. "That's just a lesson for me to carry forward as long as I keep coaching, that it's chemistry over talent. I learned a lot this year about that principle."
With the NWAC tournament quickly approaching, the coach said Big Bend's going to put a focus on treating every possession and every minute like it's their last and play their hardest right from tipoff.
"Last year, our first round we got upset because we didn't come in ready to go right from the tip and we tried to get it going at the end, but it was too late," he said. "We have to go down there and play as if they're the best team in the world and we've got to do everything we can to beat them."
Both Evans and Dana said the team is hungry for more and are ready to fight until the very end.
"We're not done so we still need to keep fighting and we can't down," said Dana. "We just have to go into region knowing that we need to work hard no matter who the team is."
The Vikings will compete in the NWAC basketball championships with the first games of the Sweet 16 beginning March 6 in Pasco at the Columbia Basin College Student Recreation Center.
BOX SCORE
YVCC: 21-13-13-14: 61
BBCC: 11-15-22-17: 65