CAMBRIDGE – The Lady Vikings of Cambridge-South Dorchester High School advanced their record to 5-3 on Jan. 11, beating the Easton Warriors 37-36. It was a closely fought contest that came down to the last fraction of a second, and featured a nice bit of coaching in those last moments.

As the girls went onto the court after a time out, with 3.4 seconds left in the game, Assistant Coach Dennis Wooten called out, “Let them shoot the 3-pointer!”

You don’t hear that too often, but we’ll get into that in a little bit.

The game started the way it finished, with high-energy play between two evenly matched teams. The first quarter ended with the visiting Warriors ahead, 10-8.

The action in the first period featured freshman Kenya Jones stealing the ball three times, and twice taking it coast to coast to score on layups.

Then came a test for the Vikes, many of whom are still freshman and sophomores – they had to keep their cool when they fell behind. At one point in the second quarter, they were down 17-8.

The second half opened with the score 22-16 in favor of Easton. With 2:45 left in the period, the Vikings went up 23-22, the first time they led in the game.

It was 29-all at the top of the fourth quarter. Natalya Pritchett’s 3-point shot with 41.7 seconds left made it 35-31, as the gym erupted in cheers.

Two Easton free throws narrowed the gap to 35-33 with 38.7 on the clock. Kenya Jones swiped the ball one more time, and her layup made it 37-33 with 3.4 seconds to go in the game.

Head Coach Bruce Springer gathered his girls around him at the bench during a timeout. Explaining to them that they were playing “situational basketball,” he told them, “No fouls,” knowing Easton would have the ball when play resumed.

“The worst-case scenario is they score a three-pointer, and we’re still ahead by a point. We’ll just let the clock run out,” Coach Springer said.

The girls headed out, Coach Wooten called, “Let them shoot the 3 pointer,” Easton hit the long shot and the score was 37-36. The visitors called a time out with 0.3 seconds left, but couldn’t stop the Vikes from running out the finals ticks after the inbound pass.

The girls celebrated modestly on the court, but after the team handshakes, spectators could hear hollering and banging from the locker room as the Lady Vikings cut loose.

Coach Springer emerged, smiling and shaking his head a bit. “I don’t know, I can’t figure it out,” he said.

They hadn’t practiced as a team over the Christmas break, or during the snow days, but they played well against Easton, he said. Two of their previous three losses came in overtime, so Coach Springer was pleased his players kept their composure to earn the win in a close game at home.

In other basketball action:

The Lady Vikings’ junior varsity team fell to visiting Easton on Jan. 11, 29-15.

The Cambridge-South Dorchester boys’ varsity team traveled to Easton on Jan. 11, where they lost 74-60.

The C-SD varsity boys hosted North Dorchester on Jan. 12, beating the Eagles 66-40.

On Jan. 13, the Lady Vikings’ varsity team went to Col. Richardson High School, where they beat the Colonels 36-19. The JV girls lost to the Colonels, 35-25.

The C-SD boys’ varsity and JV teams will be at Kent County tomorrow. Girls’ varsity will host Kent County tomorrow, game starts at 5 p.m.