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By Steve Morris
It was a tough week to be a North Branch girls basketball fan.
The girls lost two conference games by a combined four points.
Head coach Dan Schindler, said he isn’t satisfied until his team starts to turn close games into wins.
St. Louis Park
After a sluggish first half, the girls rallied in the second half only to lose by one point, 62-61.
Senior Ashley Johnson had a huge first half for North Branch, scoring 11 points.
At halftime, Schindler and his staff made some adjustments to the offense and defense which proved successful as the girls took, 41-39 lead.
“It seems just as we start to get playing good basketball this season something happens to us,” Schindler said.
Johnson, one of the team’s leading scorers, suffered an injury to her hand and was taken out of the game. Schindler said she will most likely be out for the season with a broken bone in her hand.
“Her replacement, sophomore Amanda Sylla, came in and played a great second half for us,” Schindler said.
Megan Scherer led the team with 16 points and eight rebounds. Senior Kristen Robatcek added 14 in the loss.
“We did a lot of good things in this game and we need to focus on that and keep improving for the tournament. The loss of Ashley will really hurt us, but it’s part of the game and we need everyone else to step it up even more without her,” Schindler said.
St. Louis Park 39 23 62
North Branch 29 32 61
Kristen Robatcek 14, Kendra Norman 2, Megan Scherer 16, 8 rebounds, Amanda Sylla 16 8 rebounds, Ashley Johnson 13, 10 rebounds
Fridley
Skipping to the Fridley game, the girls again lost, 43-40.
Robatcek had 10 points and nine steals in the loss. Scherer had 11 rebounds.
“Losses aren’t fun, but hopefully we are learning from them and we are learning what it takes to win. We have to play a full 36 minutes of basketball in our league. I am lucky to coach great girls and they continue to keep working extremely hard,” Schindler said.
Fridley 27 16 43
North Branch 16 24 40
Cori Fairbanks 1, Kristen Robatcek 10, 9 steals, Jessica Audette 6, Kendra Norman 9, Megan Scherer 5, 11 rebounds, Rikki Beaver 3, Amanda Sylla 6,11 rebounds
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