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Vikings tournament eligible for first time this year

Wednesday, January, 30 By John Shimer
Staff writer

While nothing about the Triton fourth-quarter comeback against North Andover last night was fast, it was certainly furious.

Down 10 points | 26-16 | heading into the last eight minutes of the game, the Vikings outscored the Scarlet Knights 20-4 in that final frame en route to a 36-30 victory.

The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-like performance pushed Triton to 7-7 | its first record of .500 or better this season.

In the first half Triton struggled tremendously to break North Andover's strong man-to-man, full-court pressure defense, turning the ball over on numerous trips up the court. The few occasions the Vikings were able to get into their half-court offense, their best player Nicki Wurdeman hardly touched the ball, while at the other end Nicole Zahoruiko was scoring at will finishing with the same number of points as the Vikings in the half, 10.

Going smaller in the second half with the rotation of Lauren Mihalchik, Kirsti Davis, and Caleigh Mehan for bigger stretches with a three-guard look, the Vikings looked much cooler in terms of ball security and helping Brittany Caprio break the North Andover defense. However, with Wurdeman on the bench for much of the third quarter, North Andover was still able to extend its lead to 10 points heading into the final quarter.

But when push came to shove, Wurdeman took over with her inside strength. Being the biggest player on the court, North Andover could not stop her from collecting offensive rebounds for easy second-chance points, and that once-commanding lead slowly evaporated.

"I called a time-out (early in the fourth quarter) and said, 'Nicki is the biggest player on the court, we need to exploit that matchup,'" said Triton coach Karen Christian. "The girls did an excellent job of getting her the ball and Nicki did a nice job of creating her own offense for our team."

Once a threat to score any time she touched the ball on offense for North Andover, Zahoruiko faded out of the game not scoring the entire second half thanks to foul trouble and some nice defensive work from Brooke Tyler off the bench.

Then at 2:30 to go in the game the Vikings tied the score for the first time as Wurdeman put back an offensive rebound for a lay-up. And despite some earlier free-throw troubles | the Vikings were a combined 1 for 10 at the line to start the game, including an 0-6 from their star | Wurdeman was able to sink both of ends of a 1-and-1 twice to put the game out reach for the Triton win.

With 14 points in the final quarter, Wurdeman nearly finished with a triple double | 20 points, 11 rebounds, and seven blocks, not to mention a couple of steals and a couple of assists.

"Adrenaline, and wanting to win," answered Wurdeman as to how she was able to sink her final four free throws after a tough start at the line.

"It was a team effort and this was really a milestone for us," said Wurdeman of her first-ever win over North Andover. "Now we have three more wins to go to get us into the tournament, and I think we can do it if we continue to play like we did tonight."