By By DAN WEISS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- The way a team looks on paper does not always reflect the way it looks in real life.
That is not the case with the Niles basketball team. With impressive statistics making the team look formiddable, the Lady Vikings back those numbers up on the court, taking a 17-3 record into tonight's Class B District Tournament opener against Coloma.
Niles has just one player averaging double figures in scoring, but is putting up 54.7 points as a team while holding opponents to 36.2 per contest.
The Vikings are averaging more than 40 rebounds per game and 17.4 assists each time out.
The rebounds are split fairly evently, with 24 coming on the defensive end and 16 on offense.
Defensively, Niles is averaging nearly 16 steals per game while blocking 7.4 shots per game.
A couple areas of concern may be the team turnovers and free throw shooting percentage. The Vikings are averaging more than 20 turnovers per game and are shooting less than 60 percent from the charity stripe.
Niles is shooting 38.3 percent from 2-point range and 38.7 percent from 3-point range.
The Lady Vikes are playing for their seventh straight District title and a second straight Regional crown.
Niles and Coloma tip off at 6 p.m. with Dowagiac and Berrien Springs squaring off 20 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.