Viking girls spread Holiday Cheer

PALOUSE - The Garfield-Palouse Vikings girls basketball team are the gift that keeps on giving, as they ride high into break, defeating two conference opponents.

The Vikings started the week with a game against the Asotin Panthers, and finished the week with a game against the Pomeroy Pirates.

Garfield-Palouse stole the show on the day, defeating the Asotin Panthers.

During the game on Tuesday, Dec. 12, against the Panthers, the Vikings would dominate in the first quarter, using a backcourt press defense to generate 11 steals in the first quarter as the Vikings won 60-18.

"Our press was pretty disruptive to them. We did a great job creating turnovers, it took us a little while to convert them into points, but we finally did and created a nice lead going into the second quarter," said Vikings head coach Garrett Parrish.

The first quarter saw the Vikings allow the Panthers to score two points while scoring 17 to take a 15-point lead after one.

Elena Flansburg would have five quick points in the first quarter and a plethora of steals to help jump start the Vikings offense.

In the second quarter, the Vikings would lead 19-4 early. The Panthers took a timeout trailing 26-4 with just over three minutes left in the half.

Garfield-Palouse would allow six more points before the half ended, but still led 29-10.

The third quarter saw the Vikings extend their lead to 37-12 halfway through the quarter.

The Vikings would score 15 points in four minutes to take the 52-18 lead after three.

Garfield-Palouse would not allow a point from the Panthers in the fourth quarter, winning 60-18.

"We didn't ever let them get into a rhythm, which was mostly due to our pressure, but when they did beat our pressure, our half court defense was pretty solid also," said Parrish.

Flansburg would finish the game with an untraditional triple-double. She had 15 points, 11 rebounds and 12 steals in the game. She shot 6/15 from the field and went two-for-two from the free throw line.

Flansburg also had four assists and two blocks, filling the box score in every category for the Vikings.

Kyra Brantner led the scoring for Garfield-Palouse with 19 points. She made nine field goals. She also had eight steals and four rebounds.

Morgan Lentz was the other Viking double-digit scorer, she finished with 14 points.

As a team, the Vikings generated 38 rebounds and 33 steals, while the Panthers had 27 rebounds and just 10 steals in the game. The Vikings also had a plus-17 turnover differential in the game, which was crucial in the victory for the Vikings.

The Vikings have won two-conference games in a row after losing to the Oakesdale Nighthawks earlier in the season.

Garfield-Palouse took their momentum into their game Saturday, Dec. 16, against the Pomeroy Pirates. The game was played in Palouse.

The Vikings fought hard from start-to-finish, earning the 61-41 victory.

Garfield-Palouse are now on a three-game winning streak heading into Christmas break.

The Vikings will participate in the Colton high school Christmas tournament, taking place Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Dec. 27-29.

After the break, the Vikings next game will be played on Friday, Jan. 5. The game will be played in Palouse against the Dayton Bulldogs. Girls tip-off is set for 6 p.m.