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North Branch 44

Foley 42 (OT)

In terms of comebacks, this one might rank at the top for Dan Schindler. Down by eight with three minutes left and trailing by five with 30 seconds left, the Vikings were still able to force a tie at the end of regulation before winning the game in overtime. For their efforts, the win moved North Branch into a second place tie with Foley in conference at 8-2.

The Vikings actually controlled the game early on, mounting a 10-6 lead after the first quarter, but then things began to get awfully complicated for Schindler. After holding the Falcons at bay over the first eight minutes of the game, Foley got back into the game thanks to free throws, sinking 11 alone in the second. Quickly, North Branch found themselves in heap of trouble, foul trouble that is. That forced many of the Viking starters to the bench.

“Usually we don’t have that problem,” said Schindler, North Branch head girls basketball coach. “Foley was really being physical and instead of moving our feet, we did much more reaching in the first half. With many of our starters on the bench, I was pleased that we had many of our bench players come in and give us great minutes. Lacee Scherer, Kristen Robatcek, Marlayna Graff, Randi Zentner, Kacie Ramberg, and Ashley Klein all came in and did a great job to keep us in the game.”

They did enough to keep the Vikings in front as North Branch stepped into the locker room with a 23-22 lead.

However, Foley finally moved in front in the third quarter after out-scoring the Vikings 8-6, giving them a 30-29 advantage. Then in the fourth, the Falcons increased their hold, moving in front by eight before the Vikings answered. Trailing 37-29, North Branch began to fight back, led by sophomore Gabi Olson who saved her best performance for the last 15 minutes of the game. After the Vikings cut the deficit to five with 30 ticks left, Olson nailed a three-pointer to make it a two point game, 39-37. Then, after Foley missed two free throws with 10 seconds left, Olson found Tiffany Good wide open for a lay-up as time was winding down. Good was fouled on the play, putting her on the charity stripe with three seconds left and North Branch down by two. Good’s free throws were perfect, completing the comeback and tying the game 39-39, forcing overtime.

In the extra session, Olson sparked the Vikings again. Trailing 41-38, Olson picked up her eighth steal of the game and her third in overtime, and took it the length of the court for the lay-up, making the score 41-40. Seconds later, after two more Foley misses from the line, Olson’s attempt to give the Vikings the lead fell short but Robatcek cleaned up the boards and put North Branch in front with 12 seconds left. Foley’s last attempt answer that was stopped, once again by Olson, who grabbed her ninth steal of the game with under five seconds left. She then followed that up with two free throws, building the North Branch lead to 44-42 with one second left. Game over.

“I thought Gab was the difference in that game,” replied Schindler. “She had to play almost the whole game because of our early foul trouble and she hit the big three-pointer when we needed it. She also grabbed 10 rebounds and had nine steals with four when we needed it.”

Olson finished with one steal shy of the triple-double. She scored 14 points in the game which led the Vikings. Good added 10 and Jill VandenHeuvel, who had four points, finished the game with 10 rebounds and seven steals.

“It was a great comeback win for us,” mentioned Schindler. “The win now puts us in a position to have a chance to get back to the top of the conference.”

They’re just one game off the lead, trailing St. Michael-Albertville who has a Rum record of 9-1. In case you’re wondering, the Knights and the Vikings match-up on February 11 at North Branch.

North Branch 44

Foley 42 (OT)

1 2 3 4 OT F

North Branch 10 13 6 10 5 44

Foley 6 16 8 9 3 42

Scoring-

Olson 14, Good 10, Anderson 4, VandenHeuvel 4, Ramberg 4, Robatcek 2, Stegmeir 2.

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