Viking girls off to a quick start

by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor

The Posen basketball team has a lot of talent and experience coming back from last March’s run at a regional title, an accolade that has eluded the program.

Monday, on opening night of the girls’ hoops season, the Lady Vikings displayed glimpses of the greatness that it will take to get back there and be the first. They downed Alcona, 68-38, and got a career-high 36 points from center Korynn Hincka.

 Her previous best was 27. Anna Couture added 16 and had an all-state caliber performance. 

Bottom line: the Vikings are really good, with a lot of weapons.

ALL-STATE center Korynn Hincka fires one in from close range in Monday’s season-oepner. It was two of her career-best 36 points. (Photo by Peter Jakey)

“We got the ball down inside to Korynn. She did a heck of a job for us. A lot of girls did a lot to get her the ball inside. We are happy with our performance. There are a lot of things to work on, and we’ve got a lot of time to do that.”

Alcona coach Brad Cole knew it was going to be tough getting a win.

“It’s going to be a dominant team,” said Cole. “They had a great last year. We are just the opposite. We lost a lot of our starters, so we are rebuilding, and I’m a new coach. So, it wasn’t a great team to open our season with. Posen has a nice group.”

After the game, Hincka, who had a Grand Valley State University assistant coach watching her in the stands, kept the focus on the team effort.

“I couldn’t have done anything without the team,” said Hincka. “They are amazing and they got the ball where I needed it.” She was scoring from all over the floor, too. Of course, she knocked down shots inside, but she showed great range by knocking down jumpers from the low post and just inside the arc. 

She also finished with 20 rebounds.

Posen lost its season opener at Alcona a year ago, mainly because there were several players fighting various health related issues. They won the rematch later in the season at home.

The Vikes started Monday with a 6-0 run in the first quarter. Bev Bednarski had the first field goal of the season, but it was Hincka with the next four, en route to 14 in the quarter.

The Tigers Karina Cole stole the ball and went in for a layup to get within three, 9-6, but the Vikings never gave up the lead. It was 15-10 when the home squad went on a 17-2 lead starting in the first quarter to take a 20-point lead. It was 38-18 at halftime.

The Tigers played better late in the third, but had no answers for the Vikings center, who scored 10.

 The lead was 23 heading into the final eight minutes. Couture, who had eight assists, led the Vikings with seven in the final quarter.

Cole ended with 22. Jenna Hincka gave Posen a third player in double figures with 11. Austin Sharpe had 11 rebounds, while Ashley Meyers added 10.

The Posen junior varsity lost its first game, 40-27. Amy Buczkowski had the hot hand with 12.

Next up is the North Star League opener at Mio. The Vikings will put their 34-game conference-winning streak on the line. Next Wednesday they travel to Cedarville.