| Misty Valdez looks for an open Viking to pass the ball off to during East Carbon’s preseason opener last Thursday night. |
Winter is a time when high school athletes across the state compete in indoor sporting events. The most popular of which is basketball.
At East Carbon High, there is no exception to this rule, and last Thursday night the girls basketball team kicked off the preseason by hosting the Altamont Long Horns.
East Carbon residents packed the gymnasium to watch the girls compete for the first time this year. Sure there are new faces, but there are also familiar ones that grace the Vikings basketball court.
Since this was the first game of the year, experienced players or not, everyone was learning and becoming acquainted with each other out on the court and each others style of play.
The competiton began with the Vikings opening the doors wide for the team to score basket after basket.
By the time that the first eight minutes ended, the Vikes were ahead of Altamont, 17-3.
At this point, the Vikings felt that the ball was in their court. Therefore, the girls came out in the second quarter filled with confidence. This confidence however would soon turn into dispare.
Altamont quickly shut the doors which the Vikings had opened in the first quarter. In fact, the team ran away with the ball game by outscoring East Carbon 23-2 in the quarter.
After half time, the Vikings came back out on the court and it seemed as if the team had regrouped. The ball game was played quite evenly throughout the third with the Vikings out scoring the Long Horns, 10-12 in the quarter.
Entering the final quarter of play, the two teams were faced with the difficult task of claiming the final victory. With only five points separating the teams, the final quarter was do-or-die time.
The first half of the quarter found the teams neck-to-neck. With about three minutes remaining in the game, the Vikings let their guard down and the Long Horns slipped past to capture the 52-40 victory.
Despite losing the ball game, the Vikings walked off the court victorious. Considering this was the first game the team has played all year, the Vikings stuck it out and played tough.
With a little more practice under their belts, the East Carbon team will be a strong competitor in Region 18 this season.
Third year East Carbon guard, Chelsey Timothy lead her team in scoring by sinking 14 points against the Long Horns.
Timothy handled the ball quite well as she manned the point guard position for the Vikings.
The Vikings did struggle with pulling down rebounds. The team lacks height this year, but that only means that the girls have to work harder to pull down the boards.
The East Carbon girls will continue to sharpen up their skills and gain valuable experience before the regular season begins.
The next preseason game on the Vikings schedule will take place against St. Joseph’s, Nov. 26.