By By ERIKA PICKLES / Dowagiac Daily News
ST. JOSEPH - Holding your opponent to only 27 points in a game says a lot about a teams defense, which is exactly what Niles head coach Jim Arnold is pleased about.
The Lady Vikes, now 16-3 overall, blew by host St. Joe Tuesday evening, taking a 55-27 win in their last week of regular season action.
Niles jumped to an early lead in the first, quarter allowing St. Joe only four points in the period, while putting 19 on the scoreboard.
At halftime, the lead expanded to 32-15. St. Joe scored 11 points in the second, the only period it was able to see double digits.
The Vikings continued strong in the second half, scoring 15 points in the third and eight points in the fourth, holding the Bears to six points in each period, to post the final score.
Radde was the leading scorer for Niles with 19 points, bringing her career total to 1,119, not far behind Sarah Dreher, who scored 14 points to bring her career total to 1, 127.
Radde also had four steals, four assists and three, three-pointers, while Dreher brought down six rebounds.
Jessica Shinksy had eight points and seven rebounds and Megan Scameheorn had four assists, four steals and one basket.
Leading St. Joe was Megan Mejeur with 13 points and Michelle Bendewald added five.
Niles will face the Chieftains for its last regular season game.
Next week districts begin for all area high school teams. The Vikings may have a chance at seeing St. Joe again on Wednesday as the Bears take on Coloma on Monday evening.
The Vikes drew a first round bye.