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By Cynthia Scott
The North Branch Vikings girls basketball team pulled out victories in two conference squeakers last week, defeating the Foley Falcons 47-44 on Nov. 30 and the Princeton Tigers 40-39 on Dec. 3.
The Vikings are now 3-0 on the young season.
North Branch roared out to big first half leads in both games, only to see them nearly evaporate in the second half.
The Vikings got off to a strong start against Foley with two 3-pointers from Tiffany Good and 8 points from Gabrielle Olson. The halftime lead was 29-14.
But the Vikings defense faltered even as their shooting turned icy, allowing Foley to chip away at the lead and make a game of it in the 4th quarter. Ten second half free throws secured the win. Olson scored a career high 20 points, with Good adding 11. Jenny Olson grabbed 13 rebounds.
In the Princeton game, Olson was hot early and scored 10 first half points, leading the team to a 25-12 halftime lead.
But momentum swung to Princeton in the second half. They sunk three 3-pointers while holding the Vikings to only 15 points. The Tigers went ahead 39-38 with 13 seconds left. North Branch had a chance to regain the lead with 9 seconds left, but missed a layup. The Vikingsí chances looked grim after quick foul gave Princeton the ball with only 5 seconds left. But the Tigers committed a violation on the inbounds pass, giving North Branch the ball and one last chance.
Olson took the inbounds pass and found Jill VandenHeuvel, who shot the game winner at the buzzer.
ěThe girls kept their composure and never quit, even when it didnít look good for us,î said Coach Dan Schindler. ěItís nice to be 3-0, but now we have to learn to finish games better because losing nice leads come back to hurt us eventually.î
Up next: Dec. 10 v. Chisago Lakes, 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 14 at Spring Lake Park, 7:30 p.m.
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