Lady Vikes finish strong to beat Trojans
AVOCA (Jan. 8) -- The AHSTW girls responded to Tri-Center’s big third quarter with an equally dominant fourth quarter last Friday night, pulling away down the stretch for a 56-45 Western Iowa Conference win.
The Lady Vikes (8-4, 5-3 WIC) built a 31-21 halftime lead but were outscored 18-5 in the third to fall behind by three. Senior Kailey Jones led the team’s fourth-period resurgence, knocking down a bunch of free throws as AHSTW finished on a 20-6 surge.
Jones made 11-of-12 foul shots on the night, grabbed eight offensive rebounds and totaled 19 points, 16 boards and two blocked shots in a highly-physical contest.
Lady Vike senior Claire Denning, meanwhile, was the game’s top scorer with 22 points, including three 3-pointers. She added seven steals on defense and had five rebounds.
Also scoring for AHSTW were Claire Harris with six points, Delaney Goshorn five, Julia Kock three and Rylie Knop one. The Lady Vikes survived a below-average shooting night (32.7 percent) and being outrebounded 39-32 by forcing 32 T-C turnovers.
The Trojans (3-5, 2-5 WIC) were led by 14 points and seven rebounds from Madison Ausdemore. Presley Pogge, Taylor Kenkel and Cassidy Cunningham all scored eight and Pogge added six steals.