GENEVA – What shaped up as an extremely promising season for the Geneva girls basketball team has taken a startling turn.

With returning standouts such as forward Sami Pawlak and guard Michaela Loebel, the Vikings were primed for another run to the top of the Upstate Eight Conference. But Pawlak broke her middle finger last Saturday, and the Vikings found out that Loebel will be sidelined for the season with a torn ACL suffered during Wednesday’s loss to Crete-Monee.

Without their two top guns, an emotional Geneva team was blasted by UEC crossover opponent Neuqua Valley, 45-22, on Friday for its second straight loss.