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The North Branch girls’ basketball team split two games last week. Tuesday, December 12, the Vikings were beaten 67-49 by St. Louis Park. Friday, December 15, NB defeated Fridley 48-36. Both games were played in North Branch. 

St. Louis Park 38 29 67

North Branch 24 25 49 

“St. Louis Park has a solid ballclub this year and they certainly gave us some match-up problems,” said Viking Head coach Dan Schindler.  “We wanted to stop their inside game and started the game doing that. But they hurt us from the outside, hitting four three-pointers and many outside shots in the first half.”  

The Vikings made some halftime adjustments to pressure the Oriole outside shooters. However, SLP took advantage of that by moving the ball inside.  “That’s what  a good ballclub does,” Schindler continued.  “We’ve had tough matchups in the inside all season. 

“I thought we played a much better second half and got some good play from Ellie Fairbanks and Amy Aho off the bench.  We were led by Kristen Robatcek with 20 points, including a couple of three pointers.  At the end, we had to take some chances and gave them some easy baskets. 

“I felt the effort was there. We were just a little overmatched at times.  We made some adjustments at halftime that worked and we were happy with that,” Schindler commented.  

North Branch Scoring

Tiffany Good 2

Randi Zentner 2

(and 8 rebounds)

Ellie Fairbanks 5

Kristen Robatcek 20

Megan Scherer 8

Amy Aho 5

Gabrielle Olson 7  

North Branch vs Fridley

After winning its season opener against Cambridge-Isanti, the Viking girls had lost four in a row when they took the floor against Fridley.

 “We really needed a win and it was nice that we finally played North Branch style basketball,” coach Schindler said. “It always starts with defense for us and I thought we played great team defense the whole game. 

“We led 21-17 at halftime and it should have been more but we missed a few easy shots we shouldn’t have.  We had a little scoring drought to start the second half and Fridley tied the game twice (32-32 and 34-34),” Schindler continued. But, both times Tiffany Good hit big baskets to give North Branch the lead and some momentum. 

“It was a very physical game and we did a good job keeping our composure with rough play.  I thought Randi Zentner had her best game of the season with 10 points and eight rebounds,” Schindler added.

The coach gave Zentner and fellow senior Lacee Scherer the responsibility to cover Fridley’s top scorer in the second half. “They did a great job defensively on their best player.  She scored nine first half points and, after that, we held her to only two.   Kristen Robatcek led us again in scoring with 18 points,” Schindler said. Robatcek also contributed eight steals to the effort.

Tiffany Good added 10 points including some real key baskets and Gabrielle Olson had 10 assists and seven rebounds.  “It was a nice team effort and it showed, if we play basketball as a team, we can compete with anyone,” Schindler concluded. 

Fridley 17 19 36

North Branch 21 27 48

North Branch Scoring

Tiffany Good 10

Ashley Johnson 7

Gabrielle Olson 2

Kristen Robatcek 18

Randi Zentner 11

Total 48

The Vikings host St. Francis Friday, December 22 and play at the Simley Holiday Tournament, December 27-29.

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