Itís a three-peat!
Viking girls capture conference title again
By Danielle Strenke With victories over Milaca and Princeton last week, the Viking girls basketball team secured the Rum River Conference title for the third year in a row. The conference wins assured the North Branch squad of at least tying Foley for top honors. The Falcons sit in second place at 9-2 in the conference; both losses came at the hands of the Vikings. One win in their remaining two conference games would seal up sole possession for the Vikings, with a 21-2 overall record and perfect 12-0 in the conference. ìSealing up the title outright is certainly what we want to do,î head coach Dan Schindler said. Those two games come against Pine City Tuesday, Feb. 19 and Friday, Feb. 22 versus Chisago Lakes. The Vikes defeated both squads in their first meetings of the year.
The wins also increase the Vikesí conference streak to 32 straight wins. This week, the team had only one game on its schedule, versus Cambridge Tuesday. ìCambridge has a good team, so this is always a good non-conference game for us,î Schindler said. In the squadís 61-45 win over Milaca, the Wolves led 13-10 after the first quarter. ìIt was definitely their tempo in the first. We adjusted and went to a half-court trap in the second quarter and it got the game back to the tempo we wanted,î Schindler said. The Vikes went on a 19-2 tear in the second, for the 29-15 lead at halftime. North Branchís Kelly Lines smoked the Milaca defense in the third quarter, hitting 15 points, including three field goals. She finished the game leading the offense with 21 points. Other offensive leaders were Sheena Devine with 10 points, Christina Sampson with nine, and Sarah Rauen with six. Friday, the squad hosted a much improved Princeton team, coming away with the 67-52 win. The Tigers led 14-12 after the first, but the Vikes scored 25 in the second for the 37-33 halftime lead. Schindler said the team tried to regroup at halftime. ìWe werenít happy with our defensive effort,î he said. The second half saw North Branch score the first eight points to increase their lead to 45-33. Princeton was never able to narrow the gap, falling to the Vikes 67-52. Jamie Schlagel led the team with 16 points for her career-high. In her first game back after sitting out two games due to an ankle injury, Traci Reimann tallied 14 points, as did Lines. Megan OíHern put in nine, and Sampson added six. Schlagel also led the team in rebounds with nine. The teamís matchups against Pine City and Chisago Lakes next week round off their regular season, with section tournament action beginning Feb. 28. Look for a complete schedule in next weekís Post Review.
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