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Vikes split pair to open seasonThe North Branch girls basketball squad opened the season with a 50-26 victory over Cambridge last Tuesday before falling 63-32 to Minneapolis Washburn Dec. 4 in its home opener. The Vikes came out with five new starters who took a 14-4 first quarter lead against the Bluejackets Dec. 2 and never trailed in the game. North Branch extended the lead 25-12 at halftime and led 41-17 after three quarters on the way to a 50-26 win. Junior Jenny Anderson led the team with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Senior Vashaity Center added 9 points and 8 rebounds. Gabrielle Olson, who started her first varsity game as a freshman had 8 points and did an excellent job at the point guard position, Schindler said. ìShe has been playing great all year and itís really going to be nice to have her around for four years,î he said. ìOur other two starters Katie Hasleiet and Rachel Brown also added some good minutes. We also got some good minutes from off the bench from Kara Lundeen, Jennah Engen, Tiffany Good, Megan Stegmeir, Jenny Stenberg, Ashley Klein, and Jill VandenHeuvel,î Schindler said. Schindler was pleased with the solid, aggressive defense played by the entire Vikes team, and said it was a good way to start the season. Minneapolis Washburn handed North Branch its first loss 63-32 last Thursday. ìThey are a very quick team and we just couldn't handle their pressure. We were not ready to play them. ìAll we can do it learn from this loss. Our inexperience showed tonight. When we learn to run our press break, instead of playing the helter- skelter basketball they got us into, we will be okay. They got us to play their style and we won't win that battle,î Schindler said. The Vikings trailed 11-4 after one quarter, 24-13 at halftime, and 50-20 after three quarters. Anderson had a good game with 15 points and 14 rebounds. It was her second game having a double-double with points and rebounds. ìWe will have to find some more help for Jenny in the scoring column,î Schindler said. ìWe feel this game can be a positive for us. If we can learn from this, it will help us for the pressure we will see for the upcoming games.îÝ North Branch starts conference play this week with a game at Foley on Tuesday and at home with Princeton at Friday. After winning the last four conference titles, the games should be a good test of how the Vikes measure up against Rum River Conference foes this season. ©ECM Post Review |