Baraga (15-1) scored the first 11 points of the game, forcing five North Dickinson turnovers during that two-minute stretch with its 1-2-1-1 half-court trap.

“We kind of expected the athleticism but the speed was something we haven’t seen this year,” said Kirk Mattson, North Dickinson girls varsity basketball coach. “They punched us in that first quarter, but I was happy with the way we responded in the second quarter only giving up five points.”

“We want to take advantage of our athleticism up front,” Baraga coach Tyler Larson said. “We have some that are long-armed, we have some that are very good at anticipating. But what is best is they just buy into exactly what we’re looking for on defense, playing tough and running until they can’t anymore.”

The Vikings aren’t bad on offense, either. Built around their three guards — senior Reide Osterman, junior Cori Jahfetson and sophomore Makenna Hendrickson — the Vikings are a tough cover from the perimeter and off the drive. Jahfetson led the way early with four 3-pointers in the first quarter to give her team a 17-2 lead with 2:40 to play.

North Dickinson’s Vansessa Lindholm (10) goes up for a contested shot in the lane during second-half action against the visiting Vikings. Unfortunately, the host Nordics couldn’t keep up and Baraga went home with a 56-34 victory.

Baraga went cold in the second quarter, but Osterman stopped a 9-0 North Dickinson third-quarter run that had cut the Nordic deficit to just seven with thee straight buckets to help her team reestablish a 17-point lead heading into the fourth.

Then in the final period, Hendrickson, a lightning-fast point guard, rang up her team’s first seven points as the Vikings built a 48-28 lead with just under five minutes to play.

In the end, Jahfetson led all scorers with 23 points, while Osterman and Hendrickson recorded 14 points each.

“We’re a guard-heavy team and we know that,” Larson said. “But our defense is really what takes us through a lot of these games. I was very happy to come out with a quick lead. I know this is a strong North Dickinson team, very impressed by some of their athletes out here. We kind of went stale in the second quarter, but we just stayed the course on defense and that helped us maintain the lead the whole game.”

Through its first 16 games, the Vikings have held their opponents to 28.9 points per game. Only Division 1-3 third-ranked Houghton, which gave Baraga its only loss of the season – a 59-48 defeat on Jan. 6 – had any success against the Viking defense to this point.

Nordic cager Ashton Hord (23) crashes the offensive boards in Monday night’s loss to the Vikings. Hord led North Dickinson with 14 points.

North Dickinson’s best performances of the night came in the second and early third quarter. After being shot out of their 3-2 zone, mostly by Jahfetson, the Nordics changed to a man defense and held Baraga to just five points over a 9 1/2 minute span bridging the second and third quarters. And when senior Ashton Hord buried two triples and senior Chrislyn Inglese hit one, North Dickinson trailed just 30-23 with 4:13 to play in the third.

“I thought our girls played hard,” Mattson said. “We could have just folder after that first quarter, but we didn’t. We just told them to just come out strong, play hard-nosed defense and amp it up a little bit. So we got a little momentum going, but we had too many shots that were close range that we’re not making.”

Hord led the Nordics with 14 points, while Inglese had 12.

After North Dickinson’s mini-run, Baraga scored the final 11 points of the third period and the game was well in hand heading down the stretch.

Mattson left impressed by the Vikings.

“We watched this team when a lot of them were freshmen and they were in the regional. And they were really good then and they didn’t disappoint tonight. There’s no shame in losing to this team.”

Jerry DeRoche can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 244, or at jderoche@ironmountaindailynews.com.