The AHSTW Lady Vikes basketball team struggled to find offense in their 54-19 loss to the Underwood Eagles on Friday. Despite the Lady Vikes opening the season last week, Underwood was playing their first game of the season. This would’ve seemingly given AHSTW a slight edge. However, the Lady Vikes had sat idle for over a week nullifying any potential advantage. With both teams on an equal footing, the game came down to who made the least amount of mistakes.

It was clear from the start that both teams had some rust to shake off. However, the game was competitive early on. Although Underwood went on a 4-0 run to start the game, the Lady Vikes responded and halfway through the first quarter took their first lead on a 3-pointer from Bella Lamp. Lamp would finish the night with 6 points while Makenna Paulsen also chipped in field goals in the first half.  This small lead would be short-lived as the Eagles went on a 13-0 run to close out the quarter with a 17-5 lead. Underwood was led by sophomore guard Ainsley Roberts, who despite only making one field goal in the quarter, made it to the line three times, hitting four of her six free throws.

In the second quarter, Underwood outscored AHSTW 11-8 growing their lead pushing their lead to 15.  Roberts who finished the game with 21 points was able to add 4 more points in the quarter. Mary Stephens also had a good night for the Eagles finishing with 12 points including a pair of field goals in the first half. The Lady Vikes were able to close the gap late and half but still found themselves down 28-13 Coming out of the locker room, the Eagles defense locked down the Lady Vikes. AHSTW picked up their first points of the second half over 5 minutes into the second quarter and only mustered 6 points in the second half.

Throughout the night, both teams struggled with passing, violations, and turnovers in what was an early season game featuring young squads. However, it was Underwood who looked a little sharper as they soared to a 54-19 victory to open their season. Head Coach Jason McCall spoke after the game and gave credit to Underwood for their start and their ability to put the Lady Vikes into uncomfortable situations.

Although the time off did seem to affect the Lady Vikes’ rhythm McCall also said that self-inflicted errors were costly.

Despite the loss, the beauty of a basketball season is that win or loss it is always on to the next one.

The Lady Vikes will return to action on Tuesday when they visit Tri-Center. Tipoff in Neola is scheduled for 6 pm.