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The Grand View women’s basketball team entered the season nationally ranked, and they have proven that they deserve to be so with their impressive 4-1 start to the season. Although they are off to a hot start on the hardwood, they are not yet satisfied.

The Vikings hosted the season opener versus Waldorf in their first of two games during the Grand View Classic on Friday, October 30th. They came away with a 30 point win over the Warriors. Grand View’s held the Warrior women to just 31% shooting and outrebound the Warriors 47-35. Britny Halleland (Sr.) led the way for the girls with 18 points, and Taylor Nashert dished out 10 assists and eight points to start the season off with a win.

The women were back at it the next day on Halloween as it was day two of the Grand View Classic. A huge fourth quarter against Dakota State University led the Vikings to a 2-0 start with the 89-74 win. After this game, both Britny Halleland and Maddie Westergard were named to the All-Tournament team, and teammate Taylor Nashert was named the classic’s MVP.

With the ladies sitting at 2-0 early in the season, they hit the road. The Vikings had scheduled exhibitions at Drake University, as well as Regis University and Metro State University in Denver, Colorado. Although none of the three games ended in a Vikings win, the team realized these were only exhibitions and used them as learning experiences for the young season.

“While the games didn’t end in our favor, it was a great opportunity for us as a team,” Center Maddie Westergard (Jr.) said. “It will only benefit us down the road, and with us starting a new conference this year with some teams we have never played before, we are excited for the change, competition and challenges ahead.”

“They were a challenge for us but it gave us some positives because we did some great things,” guard Emily Bell (Sr.) said. “We learned how to perfect the issues that we did have in those games which will help us more as we head into conference play.”

The ladies took what they learned from the exhibition games and ran with it. They scored 87 points in the victory over Dordt College to improve to 3-0. Halleland scored 20 points and led the way for the Vikings. Westergard led the rebounding battle, pulling down seven rebounds to go along with her nine points and four blocks.

Not even 24 hours after the Viking women improved to 3-0 on the season, they were back on the court again. Unfortunately, this is where the young and perfect season ended as the Vikings fell to a talented Northwestern squad 71-60. The game was back and forth throughout and the tremendous effort by the Grand View women came just short. Renise Collier (So.) had a double-double with 15 points and 10.

“Some things that I think could use improvement is our clarification on offense,” Bell said after the loss. “We have been working on perfecting our offense that we run to try and find the open shots. Breaking it down in practice and clearing up small mistakes is what will make us run our offense more effectively.”

With the women now sitting at 3-1 on the year, it was finally time to get the conference play underway. The Graceland Yellow Jackets traveled to town to take on the Vikings in Sisam Arena for the women’s most recent contest of the season.

Halleland, Hardeman, Quinlan and Bell all finished in double figures. The scoring outbreak was a contributing factor to the Vikings improving to 4-1 on the year. The total 84 points were yet another case of how Grand View’s offense has been hot and able to build off of great defense; exactly what they’ve done all season long so far, and what they hope to continue going forward.