Blue Devils basketball defeated by Vikings
The DHS Blue Devils lost to the Vanden Vikings from Fairfield on Friday, 73-36, in the semifinals of the 38th Annual Dorothy Speck Memorial Tournament. The Vikings are the ranked 25th in the state.
“I think you have to go into every game feeling like you could beat them,” junior center Lauren Blackwell said.
But “it was a long shot,” Blackwell also admitted.
“It was definitely a reality check for us to play such a dominant team, but it was very beneficial,” sophomore guard Tori Powell said. “It gave the Coaches an opportunity to really analyze us and see how we are coming along.”
While DHS lost, two Devils played exceptionally. While the two teams squeaked in their tennis shoes as they battled across the court, DHS players and sisters Malika and Khaliya Wilkins, point guard and guard respectively did well.
“She was everywhere,” Blackwell said of Khaliya. “She was getting rebounds, she was getting shots up.”
While Khaliya give a very powerful performance, Malika gave a balletic one. She gracefully spun and leapt, doggedly pursuing the basket until she scored.
But the pair couldn’t defeat Erimma Amarikwa, Vanden’s power forward. Amarikwa, coming in at six feet compared to, was powerful all night and the scoring leader of her team.
Though the game ended in defeat, there was a comic high point.
One DHS player’s water bottle broke midway through the game, and “the ref goes and just slips,” Blackwell said, laughing. A timeout was called and DHS players furiously tried to clean up the mess with jackets and jerseys.
“We didn’t get any calls [in our favor] after that,” Blackwell added.
Consistently behind Vanden throughout the game, DHS made a last-ditch effort in the last few minutes of the game to break above Vanden’s halfway mark in points, but were unsuccessful, and lost by a 37 point margin.
Three Blue Devils were injured and unable to play: Jean Parella, Sarah Sadler, and Chrysten Santos.
Vanden went up against Lincoln High School’s team in the final round of the tournament on Saturday, but lost, 53-49.
