|
By Steve Morris
A veteran back court presence and an athletic team-style defense won last week; the North Branch girls basketball team loss to two teams who had an ample supply of both.
In their contest with the red-hot Benidle-St. Margaret’s Knights, the Vikings lost 64-49.
The Red Knights extended their winning streak to eight games with their win against the Vikings.
The Vikings got down 12-2 early, but were able to keep the game an arm’s distance away to end the first half. At halftime, the Red Knight lead was 10.
“They are a very athletic team who can really put a lot of pressure on us. Our guards are learning on the job how to handle a lot of pressure seeing different kinds of presses,” head coach Dan Schindler said.
The second half brought of the same, Benilde using their full-court pressure to raze the Vikings and force turnovers. Their strategy worked as the Vikings were outscored by four points in the second half.
Senior Robatcek had a team-high 22 points in the loss. Megan Scherer picked up the slack caused by Ashley Johnson’s absence and she had 10 points.
Jessica Audette had a nice floor game with six steals and six assists.
North Branch 18 31 49
Benilde St. Margarets 28 36 64
Cori Fairbanks 2, Kristen Robatcek 22, Jessica Audette 1, Miranda Charley 4, Megan Scherer 10, Rebecca Collins 2, Amanda Sylla 8.
St. Francis
Moving forward, the girls played the No. 6 ranked team in class 4A, the St. Francis Fight Saints, and lost 66-45.
Schindler didn’t side-step their ranking or ability.
“They just are not a good match up for us. They are a veteran club that has good athletes who can run the floor and they shoot the basketball well,” he said.
With that lethal combination the girls had a difficult time staying with St. Francis.
In the first half, North Branch turned the ball over 20 times and were down 41-22. The Vikings gave it a solid effort, shrinking the deficit to 12 points.
Senior Cori Fairbanks had seven points while Robatcek was the team’s leading scorer with 14 points.
St. Francis 41 25 66
North Branch 22 23 45
Cori Fairbanks 7, Kristen Robatcek 14, Jessica Audette 3, Kendra Norman 5, Miranda Charley 2, Megan Scherer 8, Rikki Beaver 3, Amanda Sylla 2, Ashley Johnson 1.
 |
