Vikings rebound on Goshorn’s big night
Viking Senior Delaney Goshorn scored 29 points in a 62-26 bounce back win over Missouri Valley Tuesday night at home.
“They don’t have a lot of size down low,” Goshorn said. “Being able to find the gaps there, and the 15-footers were falling for me tonight.”
The Vikings came out on a 5-0 run with Sophomore Halle Goodman leading the way with all five points on back-to-back baskets before Junior Grace Herman scored the first Missouri Valley bucket. Herman later tied the game on a free throw, but Goodman put the Vikings back in front right away with a shot from 3-point range.
Following Goodman’s shot, the Vikings took command of the game with a 9-2 run to close out the quarter, leading 17-9.
The second quarter opened with Senior Rylie Knop assisting to Goshorn on a shot, putting the Vikings up 10. Senior Graycen Partlow joined the party with another assist to Goshorn.
Senior Saydi Paulsen launched a 3-pointer just minutes later, forcing a Missouri Valley timeout with the Vikings leading 24-10. When play resumed, Sophomore Makenna Paulsen found Goshorn for a shot, followed by a floater from mid-range from Partlow, putting the Vikings up 28-10.
Herman then sunk two free throws temporarily stopping the Vikings, but Goshorn scored right after, followed by Goodman and Saydi Paulsen, giving the Vikings a 34-14 lead at halftime. Goshorn led the Vikings with 15 at the half.
“You’ve got to play 32 minutes especially at this point in the year,” said Viking Head Coach Jason McCall. “We kind of flipped the scripts tonight. We were on the other side of things. It can’t be too easy and you can’t get bored with it, so you have to go out there and find a way to play at the highest level till the end of the game.”
Missouri Valley Freshman Mackenzie Parrott opened the third quarter on a free throw, with her team down by 19. Goshorn and Goodman followed with back-to-back shots, followed by another two from Goshorn, one from Makenna Paulsen, and back-to-back 3-point shots from Goshorn and Goodman. The Vikings outscored the Lady Reds 19-5 in the third quarter.
Parrott and Herman added shots in the fourth quarter, but the Vikings easily cruised to victory, holding the Missouri Valley offense to under 10 points in every quarter, with their strongest quarters coming in the 1st and 4th, allowing just nine points.
“We were looking to deflect their passes, and just communicate on defense,” Goshorn said. “Our defense is something that we take pride in, and making sure we’re all in sync on that is really important.”
The Vikings improve its record to 4-3 on the season. They will have a few days off before they take on their next opponent Friday night on the road in the 3-5 Logan-Magnolia Panthers. The Panthers are led by Brooklyn Lally with 49 points, averaging seven points per game, and 33 rebounds, along with Ava Worley with 20 assists.
“It’s a scrappy team, and they’re very well coached,” McCall said. “They’ve definitely given us fits the last couple of years. I think they have a little bit of a different team. We’ll have to look at film on them. We’re just happy we have Wednesday and Thursday off, so we’ll do whatever we can to get shots up, prepare for them, and not overthink it.”