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The Chisago Lakes girls’ basketball team suffered a 50-33 conference loss at St. Louis Park Tuesday, December 5.

“It was ugly,” said Wildcat head coach Liz Mundahl. “Our defense was great. Anytime we hold a team to 50 points we should be winning.”

The fact that the Wildcats took four defensive charges in the game is an indication of how hard Mundahl’s squad played on defense. “Courtney Skoog played great defense and got us going offensively by getting to the free throw line,” Mundahl continued. “We had defensive stops after stops, but would turn it over on the other end, which never enabled us to get into the flow of our offense.”

Chisago Lakes 14 19 33

St. Louis Park 24 26 50

Chisago Lakes Scoring

Kayla Schultz 5

Cassie Trandahl 1

Jaime Tschida 3

Courtney Skoog 8

Megan Corradi 3

Jess Peterson 13

Total 33

Fridley at Chisago Lakes

The Wildcat girls’ basketball team used a 12-2 run at the beginning of the second half to turn a five point deficit into a five point lead over Fridley at home Friday, December 8. CL never gave up that lead and defeated the Tigers 65-52.

The game was tight in the early minutes. The Wildcats moved to a 21-17 lead at the 7:45 mark of the first half on a Jaime Tschida basket. Just when it appeared the ‘Cats had things going their way, Fridley caught fire. The visitors outscored CL 12-3 over the next six minutes. With 1:58 to go, Fridley went up 29-24 and Wildcat senior captain Jess Peterson went to the bench with her second foul.

Before the intermission, Brenna Coyle found an open Kori Sells and Kayla Schultz buried two freethrows with eight seconds remaining to prevent the ‘Cats from falling further behind. The Tigers led 33-28 as the teams went to the locker room.

“It was back and forth in the first half, said Wildcat head coach Liz Mundahl. “Rebounding and patience on offense were our concerns going into halftime.  Give credit to Fridley, who hit the offensive boards hard.  They were aggressive on the boards the entire game.”

Schultz swished a three 20 seconds into the second half to begin the Wildcats’ momentum shifting surge. Over the next four minutes, Megan Corradi contributed a two and a freethrow, Courtney Skoog took a charge and found an open Sells for an easy two, Sells hit that shot and a turnaround from the block and Peterson scored on a putback.

During that span, the Wildcat defense allowed only one Tiger basket and the home team had gained a 40-35 advantage with 13:50 remaining. The Tigers climbed back into the contest and the Chisago lead had shrunk to 48-47 with 7:00 left.

In the next two minutes, Coyle hit Peterson with two nifty interior passes that led to baskets and Sells hit a hoop to give the ‘Cats some breathing room at 54-47. A Peterson drive gave the Wildcats a nine point lead a minute later.

From there, CL burned as much clock as they could on each possession and forced the Tigers to foul. As the seconds disappeared, the Wildcats went 9 for 10 from the charity stripe. When all the seconds were gone, the Wildcats had a 65-52 conference win.

“A different team showed up for us the second half.  We took care of the ball and made smarter decisions.  With that, our defense stepped up and we held Fridley to 19 second half points.  Our bench players did a nice job for us.  Everyone contributed and played unselfish basketball,” Mundahl commented.   

Chisago Lakes 28 37 65

Fridley 33 19 52

Chisago Lakes Scoring

Kayla Schultz 8

Jaime Tschida 7

Courtney Skoog 4

Megan Corradi 16

Jess Peterson 18

Kori Sells 10

Brenna Coyle 2

Total 65

The Wildcats play host to St. Francis Friday, December 15 and play at Totino-Grace Tuesday, December 19.

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