Vikings find some breathing room

The Marina High girls basketball team opened its own tournament

this week with a pair of nail-biting games, and Wednesday’s consolation

bracket meeting with a good El Dorado squad figured to fit into that

category.

But the Vikings got off to a quick start, then overcame a sloppy close,

but still were able to come away with a 58-47 victory over the Golden

Hawks.

The win puts Marina (9-4) in today’s consolation championship game, where

the Vikings will take on Alemany of Mission Hills in a 1:30 p.m. tip-off.

Marina first-year coach Butch Fredlow said he didn’t know what to expect

Wednesday. Not only were the Vikings coming off a pair of two-point

games, but they would be playing their third tournament opponent without

leading scorer, Nikki Lee, who was out with the flu.

“With Nikki out, I really didn’t know what to expect,” Fredlow said. “But

some of our other girls really picked up the slack, and that was nice to

see. I really feel these girls are starting to come together.”

Lee had scored 14 points Tuesday to lead the Vikings past Long Beach

Jordan, 47-45, but the senior forward’s absence hardly noticed Wednesday.

Marina’s tenacious defensive pressure allowed the Vikings to jump out to

a 10-4 first quarter lead, before building that advantage to 24-12 at the

half.

With two minutes to go in the third quarter, Marina was well in command,

41-19.

Junior Miranda Emde and senior Jun Okasoe, both guards, played a major

role in helping the Vikings stake their way to the 22-point lead.

“I thought we had played so well up until that fourth quarter,” Fredlow

said. “But El Dorado’s a very good, fundamentally strong team, and they

did a nice job of getting back into the game. We just need to find a way

to close a game.”

Marina led by 16, 51-35, midway through the final period when the Golden

Hawks (7-6) made one final move.

Corrine Barham, a 5-foot-10 senior forward who tied Elaine Mar for

team-high scoring honors with 10 points, dropped in a pair of free throws

with 53 seconds left to bring El Dorado to within seven, 54-47. But the

Golden Hawks could get no closer, and Nicole Nicole Gerber’s air ball on

a three-point shot attempt with 22 seconds left sealed their fate.

Mary Vaughan hit a free throw with 14 seconds remaining to close out the

scoring.

Vaughan, who finished with 12 points, played her “best game of the

season,” according to Fredlow, but it was Emde who led Marina with 21

points.

The Vikings also got a boost from sophomore Nicole Nichols and freshman

Sarah McLeod, both of whom Fredlow brought up from the junior varsity

team for the tournament.

Both players saw playing time Wednesday. Nichols, who scored her first

basket at the varsity level against Castro Valley, pulled down two key

rebounds in the fourth quarter Wednesday.

Marina has now won two straight games since losing to Castro Valley of

Oakland, 58-56, in Monday’s first-round action.