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Vikings hit a wall; lose to Eagles, Irondale |
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By Steve Morris
A sluggish first half and poor shooting tripped the North Branch girls
basketball team as they lost to their North Suburban Conference rival
Totino-Grace 73-35.
The Eagles, running on a 22-game winning streak, plowed over the girls in the first half, outscoring the Vikings 14-41.
Totino-Grace, the No. 3 rated team in the state, had a handful of weapons to which the Vikings had no answers.
North Branch focused on Gopher recruit Liz Naumann and were successful,
holding her to just four points but her teammates picked up the slack
to carry the team.
“I will be real surprised if Totino-Grace is not the team representing
our section in the state tournament. They are very good at all
positions,” head coach Dan Schindler said.
Amanda Sylla, who is starting for the injured Ashley Johnson, played
well and led the team with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Senior
Kristen Robatcek ended with 10 points.
North Branch 14 21 35
Totino-Grace 41 32 73
Cori Fairbanks 2, Kristen Robatcek 10, Kristen Kaminski 2, Kendra
Norman 5, Amanda Sylla 11 and 6 rebounds, Ashley Johnson 2, Rikki
Beaver 3
Irondale
Looking to avenge their loss to Totino-Grace, the Vikings were short changed in a 27-point loss to Irondale.
Despite shooting 3 for 30 in the first half, the girls trailed by just
six points, 20-14. For the game the girls shot just 17 percent. To
start the second half, the girls were outscored 1-10.
Robatcek led the team with 12 points while Megan Scherer finished with 8 points.
“Kristen each games sees their best defender guarding her and she
continues to play consistent basketball for us. It hasn’t been an easy
year for her with her injury and then tough match ups each game, but
she still gives us a great effort every game,” Schindler said.
The Vikings end their regular season with home games Feb. 21 against Moose Lake and Robbinsdale Cooper on Feb. 22.
Irondale 20 36 56
North Branch 14 25 39
Cori Fairbanks 1, Kristen Robatcek 12, Kristen Kaminski 2, Jessica
Audette 4, Miranda Charley 1, Megan Scherer 8, Rebecca Collins 1,
Amanda Sylla 7, Ashley Johnson 3
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