WATERLOO WRECKS RAIDERS REPEAT BID

ATWATER OH- The Waterloo Lady Vikings have been a team of adversity all season. From early on, it was a team not many outside of Atwater believed in.

With a group of eight girls on the roster, the questions of longevity arose for The Lady Vikings, especially competing in The MVAC Scarlet with Springfield

On November 22nd, 2021 Waterloo opened up with Alliance, a game in which they lost 58-46 to start the season 0-1. That night The Lady Vikings walked off the court in defeat, a feeling in which they have not felt since.

Rattling off nineteen consecutive victories leading up to the tournament, The Lady Vikings accomplished everything they set out for and then some.

Winning The MVAC Scarlet Division outright, having a perfect 14-0 conference record to do so. It led Waterloo to a 19-1 record in the regular season, a #5 seed in The Division 3 (Struthers District) and a chance to host a sectional final.

That Sectional draw? A team all too familiar with district championships, The #7 South Range Lady Raiders. Even with The Lady Vikings being the higher seed, South Range having won back-to-back district championships made this a tough matchup for Waterloo.

Both programs being defensively sound, had this one looking like it was going to be a defensive grudge match. As both teams sure made it seem so in the first quarter. Holding Waterloo to just 4 points of offense to take a 9-4 lead after one.

Lexi Giles got it going early, hitting back-to-back three pointers to make it 6-0 from the jump and help South Range take the first quarter.

However, The Lady Vikings and Coach Longanecker had a response. With a strong defensive second quarter, Waterloo held The Lady Raiders to just 5 points, helping trim their deficit. South Range led 14-13 by halftime, Lexi Giles led the way with 8 points.

Kaira English was Waterloo’s offense in the first half, scoring 12 of the 13 points before the half. Both teams looked to make halftime adjustments to stop the leading scorers, and drew even in the third quarter 11-11. Making it a slim Raider lead 25-24 going into the final eight minutes.

Basketball is a game of runs, and in a game where both teams were so even, it was a late run by Waterloo that booked The Lady Vikings a ticket to districts! Winning 45-37 over South Range.

The adjustments made by Coach Fishel and The Lady Raiders were effective, holding Kaira English to just 4 points in the second half. But it was Rose Couts that scored 19 points in the second half, totaling 20 on the day. Couts hit some clutch game-clinching free throws in the final minute, part of 13 made free throws in the game, to seal it with a kiss from a Rose.

The other side saw Lexi Giles still score 10 points in the second half, bringing her total to 18; however, Waterloo halted Giles at the arc, 0-5 from three point range after the first.

The win is twenty consecutive now for The Lady Vikings, as they head to The District Semi-Finals in Stuthers to take on another one loss team in the #1 seeded Liberty Lady Leopards.

That game will take place on Wednesday, February 23rd and can be found on YSN!

Postgame Interview With Kevin Longanecker: