Clint Tatum has invested in a new offense for his Siuslaw Vikings girls basketball team, and it paid dividends Tuesday night against the visiting Sweet Home Huskies.

Junior Destinie Tatum scored 20 points and grabbed 23 rebounds to power the Vikings to a 47-38 nonleague victory at Glen Butler Court.

Senior Sierra Potter drained three 3-pointers and added 14 points as the Vikings improved to 5-12 on the season. Sweet Home is 3-14.

"We actually installed an entire new offense Monday," Clint Tatum said. "We went from a high pick and roll offense to a high post, low post, and it seemed to work pretty well."

Siuslaw opens the second half of Far West League play on Thursday, hosting the South Umpqua Lancers at 6 p.m. at Butler Court.

"The issue we're having, and I've talked to the girls about this, is that someone needs to step up and shoot the basketball," the Vikings coach said.

That is, someone other than Potter and his daughter, Destinie.

Tatum and Potter are tied with 211 field-goal attempts each this season, nearly half the team total of 824 through 17 games. Senior post Taylor Dotson has 97, freshman wing Annabel Tupua 87 and junior guard Nikki Launius 68.

Tuesday, the new offense produced 60 shots from the field by the Vikings, one off their season high.

Siuslaw put up a season-high 61 shots in its last meeting with South Umpqua, Jan. 15 at the Lancers' campus in Tri City. Since then, the Vikings had 47 shots against Marshfield, 43 vs. Brookings-Harbor, 44 vs. Douglas and 39 vs. North Bend, all losses.

That four-game skid ended with the new offense.

"The offense is more open, and there are more opportunities for shots," Waggoner said. "Our defense is really good, but we need more offense."

It's been a tough stretch for the junior guard, who has missed seven games with a stress fracture in her left leg.

"It's an overuse injury, probably started in volleyball," Waggoner said. "It's great to be back. I can go 100 percent now, and I'm still getting back in shape."

Against Sweet Home, she finished with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.

"She's back and she's healthy and she's going to be a big help," Clint Tatum said.

Potter and Tatum got their shots against Sweet Home, with 18 and 17, respectively. Dotson had 8, Waggoner 7 and Launius 5.

"Tonight we stepped up and shot the basketball," Tatum said. "If we have that, we'll have a lot more wins coming."

The Vikings are 1-4 through the first half of league play, while South Umpqua is 0-5 in league and 1-17 overall.

"South Umpqua is an improving team," the Vikings coach said. "The rest of the season we'll go out and play 'em as hard as we can and let the chips fall."

Next week, Siuslaw plays at Marshfield on Tuesday, Feb. 9, and hosts Brookings-Harbor on Friday, Feb. 12.

The Vikings host Douglas on Tuesday, Feb. 16, and then close their season Friday, Feb. 19, at North Bend.

All games tip off at 6 p.m.

SUMMARY

SWEET HOME      12    7    11     8   —    38
SIUSLAW                8  15    13    11  —    47