Lady Vikings come up short at the end against Rangers

By Chris Morlan

The North Posey Lady Viking basketball team played their final regular season game last Thursday night at home against the Forest Park Lady Rangers. This was a conference matchup and the final tune up game for both schools before the upcoming sectional round of the state tournament.

Forest Park set the tone of this game by outscoring North Posey 17-13 in the opening quarter of this contest. The Lady Vikings trailed by as many as six points at 15-9 but cut that deficit down to four points only trailing 17-13.

In the second quarter, Forest Park was nearly making every basket they shot. In the first half, Forest Park made over sixty percent of their field goals. At the end of the first half, the Lady Rangers built their biggest lead of the game going into the halftime break at 36-27.

North Posey was down by as many as ten points at the start of the third quarter at 39-29. The Lady Vikings fought back at that point of the game, making eight of ten shots from the free throw line in the third quarter and only trailed the Lady Rangers by four points. Forest Park closed out in the third quarter with a 10-4 run to then lead 49-39.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Forest Park looked like they were going to pull away in this game leading 51-39. North Posey never gave up and got back in this game and only trailed by two points at 55-53 with ten seconds left.

Forest Park’s Mollie Combs was fouled immediately after the ball came into play. Combs missed the first free throw and made the second shot to make the score 56-53. North Posey had one last chance to tie the game as time expired. Elle Jo Johnson attempted a shot around the middle of the court that was blocked by Ranger center Avery Hill. If the Vikings had a little more time, this group could have possibly made a comeback to win this contest.

The Lady Rangers defeated the Lady Vikings 56-53 to give North Posey their third straight loss with their regular season record ending with 12 wins and 11 losses. Forest Park improved their record to thirteen wins and nine losses.

Jaz Ward led the Lady Vikings by scoring 15 points. Ward scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half. Ella Weatherholt finished with 14 points and Elle Jo Johnson with 10 points. Mollie Combs led Forest Park by scoring 15 points. Jenna Berg scored 13 points for the Lady Rangers.

VARSITY, Thursday, January 29, 2026, at North Posey High School

Forest Park 17 19 13 7 — 56

North Posey 13 14 12 14 — 53

FOREST PARK (56): C. Warren 4 0-1 8, B. Howard 3 0-0 8, M. Combs 6 2-4 15, J. Berg 4 2-2 13, A. Hill 2 1-2 5, E. Meunier 1 0-0 3, B. Begle 1 2-4 4.

NORTH POSEY (53): M. Luigs 1 0-0 2, A. Murphy 0 0-0 0, E. Weatherholt 5 4-4 14, J. Ward 5 5-6 15, E. Johnson 4 2-2 10, K. Seibert 0 0-0 0, K. Bender 3 1-2 9, T. Reich 1 0-0 3, T. Wilson 0 0-0 0.

3-point field goals: North Posey 3 (K. Bender 2, T. Reich 1), Forest Park 7 (J. Berg 3, B. Howard 2, E. Meunier 1, M. Combs 1); Free Throws: North Posey 12-14, Forest Park 7-13; Total Fouls: North Posey 13, Forest Park 10.