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Smooth sailing for Vikes after fast start

Wednesday, February, 13 By John Shimer
Staff writer

Perhaps motivated by its last-second loss to Newburyport last Friday or the fact that it still needed that elusive 10th victory to qualify for the EMass. tournament, the Triton girls wasted no more time punching their ticket by routing Amesbury, 52-21.

Triton redeemed a Friday loss to the Clippers which came on Sam Barribeault's game-winning shot with under 30 seconds to play. The Vikings, wanting no repeat, jumped to a 33-9 halftime lead.

Thanks to 11 points from Nicki Wurdeman (19 points, 8 rebounds) in the first quarter, the Vikings made short work of the Indians jumping out to a 13-4 advantage at the end of the first.

Things would only go downhill from there for the Indians as Triton threw out any notions of a comeback with a 20-5 second quarter advantage.

"I think the girls came in a little more motivated, and it was nice to see that level of effort to bounce back from a pretty disappointing loss at Newburyport where we had lead the entire game and lost down the stretch," said satisfied Triton coach Karen Christian.

Triton, which lost to Amesbury in the second game of the season, 65-58, continues to look impressive. The Vikings have won five of their last six. Amesbury, on the other hand, is 4-9 since.

"I think we have been seeing the floor a bit better | especially moving the ball | and it helps to hit some outside shots so we don't have to rely as heavily on the inside game," said Christian when asked how her team has improved since its 0-3 start. "With every success the girls got more confidence, and I think tonight showed that everyone can step up."

Point guard Brittany Caprio, who had another strong overall game with six points, five assists, and three steals, said the reinforcements the Vikings called up from the JV squad really provided an extra lift at the right time.

"It really helped bringing up a couple of sophomores in Maxine Crossman and Paige Stokes along with freshman Jenna Rock because we had some illness and injuries go through our team lately," stated Caprio, who Christian added has improved her game every night this year. "I think we also just needed to get back to playing basketball the way we know how | playing to our strengths and getting the ball inside."

Playing a zone defense the Vikings were able to shutdown the inside game of Bre Comeau (7 points) | named recently as a finalist for the McDonald's All-American team | and Katie Hathaway (4 points). After the game Amesbury coach Chris Perry was succinct in his analysis.

"We didn't pass the ball well, we didn't shoot the ball well, and we didn't play defense well," Perry summed up. "It wasn't a pretty night for us out there."

Scoring 10 points Triton's Lauren Savage was the only other player in double figures with a strong performance for the Vikes. Christian also added that Sarah Peterson continued to be a steady performer doing a solid job on the inside.