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Lady Vikings fall to state champion
By Chris Johnson
There were many who felt the girls’ basketball team at North Boone High School had a pretty good shot to knock down a win when the state playoffs began. Those select few were accurate in their prediction and the team’s leaders assured it would happen.
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, the eight-seed North Boone Lady Vikings upset the four-seed Oregon Lady Hawks in the Byron Class 2A Regional Semi-Final 52-36. The win assured the Lady Vikings would advance to the Byron Class 2A Final for their shot at the championship.
North Boone entered the regional title bout with Byron with a 5-21 season mark. The Lady Tigers lost twice all year. Undefeated NIC-10 Champion Boylan beat Byron over the Christmas Holiday season. The Lady Titans are the top seed in their own Class 4A Regional. Lombard-Montini, a 3A top-seed, gave Byron its only other loss. The Lady Tigers entered the post-season showdown with North Boone carrying a 28-2 season mark.
This year, Byron is heavily-favored for a deep run, and they were at home for the Thursday Final against North Boone. They dominated, as expected and left for Princeton with the Regional Crown courtesy of the 73-27 win.
When members of this year’s Lady Vikings woke up on Thursday morning, Feb. 9, there was no dream they were stirring from. The reality of what happened two nights earlier was directly in front of them. They were playing for the regional title after school.
Even after the final buzzer sounded, the Lady Vikings will still recall that in the post-season a lot of good things can happen. Upsets will occur. They experienced one in Byron.
Titles are won courtesy of win streaks at the right time. North Boone closed the regular season heading in the wrong direction. Since a Jan. 20 win at Rockford Christian, the Lady Vikings were shut-out. They played to the level they could in losses.
On Jan. 28, they fell to Rockford Lutheran, the second-place finisher in the Big Northern Conference. Byron was undefeated in conference play and Lutheran was two games back. It was a quality loss.
In back-to-back matches, the 2A Lady Vikings were set back by two 3A representatives, Stillman Valley and Genoa-Kingston. Two more quality losses, based on the interpretation of statistics.
The final loss of the regular season came at the hands of the Mendota Lady Trojans, 52-38. The streak highlighted an important statistic for North Boone in its upset plans when the post-season began.
The Lady Vikings averaged 55 points a game, down the stretch, against strong opposition. Defense wins a lot of games and in their regional semi-final upset win, the North Boone Lady Vikings kept the high-flying Lady Hawks in check with 36 points allowed. They got it right. Even in loss to Byron to close the winter season, the Lady Vikings can know it took a very good team to knock them out of the playoffs this year.
