The Knights won soundly, 65-52.
Melinda Perry led the way for the Lady Knights with 24 points, five re-bounds and three blocks as she was a dominating presence inside the key. The Vikings looked lost at times and never got into a groove to start the game. "We took a lot of good shots, got a lot of good looks at the basket. We just couldn't capitalize on the scoring opportunities that we needed," said Viking assistant coach Chantal Gill. "We have to finish our opportunities."
While the Knights were scoring early and often, the Viking offense struggled to get off the ground, missing easy lay-ups and wide open shots. The Lady Vikings managed only four points in the first quarter as the Knights took an 11-point lead.
"For us it was a tale of two halves," said Gill about their offensive performance. "We felt good during warm-ups but it never transferred to the game until the second half. We'll have to work on that in the future."
The Lady Vikings scored 11 points in the second quarter and kept the Knights in check defensively as they switched from man to zone defense. Though it was temporary, they allowed the Knights to score 13 points in the quarter, and they took that lead into the half.
"I told the girls to stay together defensively, but they needed to get together better on offense, especially in transition," said Gill.
"Every time we got a turnover we didn't get down the court fast enough to score in transition. It was tough."
The second half started with Viewmont picking up the pace on offense as Gill had planned, but the defense struggled to keep Northridge from scoring, as the Lady Knights put up 23 points in the quarter led by Perry's 12.
Nikki Fernandes, daughter of Woods Cross head football coach Fred Fernandes, also pitched in with six of her 15 points in the quarter as the Knights led by 19 after the third quarter.
The Vikings started with an early charge in the fourth, going on scoring runs of nine-to-two and ten-to-four by the middle of the fourth and cut the lead to six points.
But it's as close as the Vikes would get. Northridge followed with a late charge of their own, outscoring the Lady Vikings 13 to seven in the final minutes and sealing the game.
"We're disappointed still," said Gill. "But we have a week to get our team back together and reestablish ourselves. That's what we're going to do."
The Lady Vikings are still winless, but have eight days to prepare for a road game against Bonneville, while the Knights will go home to take on Kearns.
sgillet@davisclipper.com
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