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Vikes battle conference leaders STMA, come away with lossBy Danielle Strenke The North Branch girls basketball squad gave the Rum River Conference leader a tough test last Friday, as the Vikings came close to handing St. Michael-Albertville its second loss of the season. After starting the week with a 59-56 win over Pine City Jan. 13, the Vikes hosted STMA Jan. 16 and were able to stay within 1 or 2 points throughout much of the contest. STMA eventually came out on top of a 35-30 defensive battle for the win. North Branch 59 Pine City 56 The Dragons surprised the Vikings with a tough offense in the first quarter last Tuesday, ending with the Vikes trailing 25-19. ìWe didn't play a very good first quarter of defense against Pine City,î Head Coach Dan Schindler said. ìWe weren't rotating on their ball reversal and they got to many open shots.î North Branch made some adjustment and held Pine City to 10 points in the second to narrow the gap to 35-34 at the half. The Vikes came back to take the lead in the third quarter, leading 48-43. North Branch held the lead until Pine City tied the game at 56-56 with less than a minute remaining in the game. North Branch worked the ball around, trying to get it to junior Jenny Anderson for the shot. Pine City guarded her closely, but missed senior Katie Hasleiet outside the arc. Hasleiet sunk a three-pointer with 4 seconds left for the 59-56 Vikings win. ìIt was more exciting than I want them to be, but after the first quarter I thought we played a pretty solid game,î Schindler said. ìWe are still learning and we need to be able to make those adjustments during the game instead of between quarters.î The Dragons double-teamed Anderson, allowing senior Vashaity Center to shoot more from the opposite side. Center led the team with 19 points while Hasleiet had a nice game, ending with 15 points and Anderson added 14. Freshman Gabrielle Olson had 7. North Branch 30 STMA 35 St. Michael brought an undefeated conference record to North Branch last Friday and were forced to earn the 35-30 win. The first quarter saw a scoreless first two minutes as North Branch surprised the Knights with a relentless defense that forced turnovers and hurried shots. The score was 7-7 after one quarter and remained tied at the half, at 19-19. ìThey have been scoring a lot of points, so we wanted to keep the tempo down as their strength is more fast paced,î Schindler said. I think we did a great job of controlling the tempo.î The Vikings took over the lead for the first half of the third quarter before St. Michael took over and lead 28-26 going into the final quarter. North Branch again tied the game at 28-28 with four minutes left in the game, but saw STMA hit a big three-pointer to take over the lead and eventually the 35-30 win. The Vikes had several chances at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, but were unable to put up the points. The team finished 7 of 16 at the line ñ a place where the Vikes are traditionally strong. ìThe girls played very hard and I was proud of their effort,î Schindler said. ìWe just need someone to step up their game in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line.î Anderson led the team with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Olson added 5 and senior Rachel Brown had 4. This week, the team was scheduled to travel to Zimmerman Tuesday and returns home Friday, Jan. 23 to take on Big Lake in two conference contests. ©ECM Post Review |