By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Two different clans of Vikings battled the Pioneers in Lentz Eggers Gym on the weekend, with two very different results. After dispatching the Avery County Vikings on Dec. 6, Watauga couldn’t overcome a broad-based scoring barrage by the North Wilkes Vikings on Dec. 7, losing 70-67.
Pioneer guard Izzy Torgerson drained five of her six 3-pointers on the day in the second half while Julie Matheson and Blair Haines each added two more after intermission, the trio combining with senior Kate Sears to narrow a 9-point deficit going into the final stanza and nearly pulling off a come-from-behind victory.
Overall, it was arguably the best long distance shooting of the young season for the Pioneers, who combined for 14 successful 3-point shots for the game, including Torgerson with six, Matheson with four, and Haines with four.
But the Vikings also proved worthy from behind the arc, with sharpshooters Ralee Bare and Meredith Tomko each finding success three times from long distance, combined with Ava Johnson and KK Kinder each successful from beyond the arc twice. Add sophomore Shalyn Bare’s effectiveness in the paint, and the Vikings just had too much firepower on this day.
With the outcome of the game coming down to the last several seconds, Watauga head coach Bill Torgerson had a lot of praise for North Wilkes’ play, as well as for his own team’s resilience in almost forging the comeback.
“These were two pretty good high school basketball teams,” said Torgerson. “It kind of had the feel of a state playoffs game because it was Saturday afternoon and a rather quiet gym. But these were two really good teams playing at an incredibly high level. I was impressed with our grit and resilience, but also how well North Wilkes played. They have talented players making shots… I would say North Wilkes is one of the best, most fundamentally sound teams executing on both sides of the ball that we will play.”
North Wilkes improves to 5-0 on the young season, Watauga falls to 1-3. The Pioneers play at East Lincoln on Dec. 14, then have a rematch against North Wilkes at their place on Dec. 17 before returning to play a next home game vs. Davie on Dec. 20. They have one other pre-Christmas game scheduled, at Northern Guilford on Dec. 21.
North Wilkes, which went deep into the state 2A playoffs a year ago (losing in the 2A West semifinals, next travels to East Wilkes on Dec. 9, then hosts East Surry on Dec. 13.
SCORING SUMMARY
- NW – Shalyn Bare – 19
- WAT – Izzy Torgerson – 18
- NW – Ralee Bare – 17
- WAT – Julie Matheson – 16
- WAT – Kate Sears – 14
- NW – Meredith Tomko – 14
- WAT – Blair Haines – 12
- NW – Allie Farrington – 8
- NW – Ava Johnson – 6
- NW – KK Kinder – 6
- WAT – Kaitlyn Darner – 3
- WAT – Chloe Wilson – 2
