In a repeat of last year’s season finale, the Vikings lost to the Rams 86-74 while outside rain soaked City College of San Francisco’s gym on Saturday, March 4.

When asked what the Vikings did well, head coach Ramaundo Vaughn said, “our uniforms looked nice.”

Players and coaches had no shortage of critiques for their performance with the general consensus being that the team was not ready for the moment.

Guard Safiyyah Yasin said the team didn’t execute their brand of basketball of playing together, moving the ball well, and defending at an elite level.

Guard Doris Jones added the team did not live for the moment and got down on each other when something didn’t go right.

Forward Samarah Oliver felt the lack of depth and size hurt their ability to bring energy off the bench saying, “when you play 40 minutes a game people get tired.”

The first half featured frantic action with both teams jostling to establish a rhythm and the lead changing or tying a combined 17 times.

The exchanges stopped with 3:29 to play till the half when the Rams made a pair of free throws to gain a lead they would never relinquish.

They scored three more times before the clock hit zero, including a layup at the buzzer to lead 45-40.

The Vikings came out flat to start the second half and first year assistant coach Danielle Mauldin felt the team got out-hustled, losing their momentum every time they started to generate some rhythm.

The Vikings kept battling and brought the deficit back to within three, thanks to a 3-pointer by Safiyyah Yasin, that made the score within 49-52 with 6:03 remaining in the third quarter.

But like the rain pouring outside, the Rams did not let up and proceeded on a 10-point scoring spree that could only be halted by a timeout from Vaughn.

The Vikings never threatened the Rams after that.

The intensity of the game led tempers to flare over officiating towards the end of the first half which culminated with the head referee issuing a warning to Vaughn.

A wild sequence happened with 6:51 left to play in the game and the Vikings trailing 62-74.

Oliver and Rams player Gabrielle Vigil got tangled up off a made Rams layup and the ensuing fracas resulted in a technical foul for Vigil and one for the Vikings as a team.

Oliver proceeded to shoot two free throws and Vigil three, after which play resumed.

Ultimately the game came down to defense.

The Vikings expected the Rams to play a man-to-man defensive scheme, but instead they played a zone defensive scheme which forced the Vikings into a lot of bad shots.

According to Jones, they took a lot of forced three point shots when they could have attacked and they should have had more ball movement.

The Rams held the Vikings to 29.7 percent shooting from the field while the Vikings allowed the Rams to shoot 46.4 percent from the field.

Rams coach Derek Lau said his team did enough to slow the Vikings down on offense and attack the right people on defense to beat a great team and get the win.

“I’m proud of our season,” said Vaughn. “We are one of the premier teams in the state of California and losing tonight doesn’t lessen that at all.”