In the opening games of the 2022 portion of the season the Smoky Valley Vikings took care of business and swept the visiting Hoisington Caardinals 47-30 in girls action and 67-55 sin for the boys.

A really good 1st quarter saw the lady Vikings race out to a 12-2 lead then kept the Cardinals from any rally to lead 25-12 at the half. The 3rd quarter the Cardinals started to mount a comeback but coming off the bench Tinley Scott scored a quick 5 points and Abby Rose hit a 3 to give the Vikings a 33-25 lead after 3. Then in the 4th quarter Kiera Mullen and Rose each hit two 3’s to widen the lead and the Vikings went on to win 47-30. Rose led the Vikings with 17 points. Vikings are now 5-1 on the season and off until next Tuesday when the Halstead Dragons come to Lindsborg.

In boys action it was Trayton Miller from beyond the arch as he hit three big 3’s in the first quarter to help the Vikings to a 16-14 lead. The 2nd quarter saw the Vikings get ahead by 7 and end up leading 32-26 at the half. The 3rd quarter saw Hoisington get as close as 42-40 but the Vikings would never give  up the lead and took a 49-43 edge into the 4th quarter. There the Viking Defense would be the dominating factor as they would not allow the Cardinals to mount any kind of a rally and some more key baskets by Karson Pihl and Miller would keep the lead in double digits and win it by the score of 67-55. Karson Pihl led a quartet of Vikings in double figures with 17, Trayton Miller added 16, Vincent Pickering and Haven Lysell added 11 each. Vikings improve to 2-4 and face Halstead next Tuesday in Viking gym.

Don Bengtson