| The Lady Vikings, Samantha Madrid, is shown here playing tough defense on an opponent earlier in the season, but on Thursday night she was offensive minded as she scored 17 points against Meridian. |
The Meridian Lady Mongooses have a reputation for having a very weak basketball program. In the last three and a half years they have won only three games; that’s one last year (it was their first in three years and it made headlines in the big papers) and two so far this year.
But losing is only part of the reason they are considered weak.
They can’t score either.
That’s not to take anything away from East Carbon who thrashed the Provo schools team 45-8 on Thursday night. The Lady Vikings played their cards…er…the game just right. They dominated in all aspects of the game.
It was a night to remember for ECH fans who have often suffered through some overwhelming losses themselves. One Viking fan said the next day that they felt so bad for the kids from the small private Utah County school, they started to cheer for them as well as their own team.
Part of the Lady Mongooses problem is that their school is very, very small. With a student body of only a little over 60 students and a transient population of students as well.
Right from the beginning the Lady Vikes took it to Meridian. At the end of the first quarter the score was 16-2, and those two points almost came on a fluke which was proven by a second quarter in which the Provo team did not score at all. East Carbon put in 13 in that quarter.
With a 29-2 lead going into the second half, coach Ryan Hepworth was able to liberally substitute players and give a lot of people playing time. In the next two periods the Lady Vikings only scored 16 points, but it wasn’t due to better play by Meridian, but the fact East Carbon had less seasoned players in the lineup.
Meanwhile Meridian was able to triple their scoring output to six points for the half.
There were a number of bright spots for East Carbon in this win besides the victory itself. Samantha Madrid was the leading scorer with 17 points. The team rebounded well and executed better than they have in many of their games this year.
It was a good end to the calendar year, because the team now has no games until after New Years Day when they face Tabiona in a non-league contest at the Duchesne County school on Jan. 7 and then resume league play on Jan. 9 against West Desert in a home game at the Viking gymnasium.