The AHSTW Vikings Girls Basketball team started their 2023-24 campaign on the road vs a tough and physical Woodbine Tigers team who went 23-3 a season ago and made it to the Class 1A Quarterfinal in the State tournament. But the Vikings would not be intimidated as they came out from the start playing lots of energy and effort starting on the defensive end. Delaney Gashorn the senior leader for the Vikings got off to a great start with two baskets and a assist in the first quarter to give the Vikings a 12-10 lead after one.

The Tigers turned it up defensively in the second quarter as the Tigers forced the Vikings to 5 turnovers in the quarter and allowed the Tigers to pick up the speed of the game and get uncontested layups in transition. The Vikings had a disaster of a quarter as to go with the turnovers the Vikings struggled to score from the field as the team shot just 1-12 in the quarter and Woodbine outscored AHSTW 18-6 in the quarter to take a 26-18 lead into the break.

The two teams would play an even fourth quarter as the Tigers maintained the 8 point lead taking it into the fourth where the momentum and energy shifted early into the quarter as Ella Langer was everywhere for the Vikings creating more opportunities as Langer had 5 rebounds and 2 steals in the quarter to give the Vikings a lead before the Tigers tied it up taking the game into overtime. Head Coach of the Vikings Jason McCall was happy with Langer on defense and said they had talked about her being better defensively heading into the new season.

In the extra time frame the teams would go back and forth as Danyelle Steinkuehler knocked in one out of two free throws in back to back possessions to give the Tigers a two point lead with 21 seconds remaining. The Vikings with plenty of time got two great looks to tie as Rylie Knop missed a 10 footer and Graycen Partlow had a 12 footer just go off the back of the rim as time expired giving the Tigers a tough 49-47 win in OT to start the season 1-0. Head Coach Jason McCall knows his team left it all on the floor and was happy with how his team responded to adversity.

Coach McCall knows his team will battle and find a way to compete and give themselves a chance to win the game late and that’s exactly what they did tonight.

The Vikings have a quick turnaround as the Vikings will be back on the road tomorrow night as they travel to Cam to take on the Cougars for a 7:30 tipoff.