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The North Branch girls’ basketball team beat Milaca 52-25 Tuesday, Jan uary 3 and lost a heartbreaker Thursday, January 5 to St. Francis 58-57. 

Milaca..........6........19.........25

N.B..............29........23.........52 

The N.B. girls basketball team opened up the new year with a 52-25 victory over Milaca.  The girls started fast and led Milaca 29-6 at halftime. 

“Our press really bothered them and we were able to get some steals and easy opportunities on the offensive end.  It was the type of game we like to play. We let our defense create offensive opportunities for us.  Kristen Robatcek and Jill VandenHeuvel are both really good in our press,” said North Branch head coach Dan Schindler.

The pressure Robotcek and VandenHeuvel applied led to turnovers and easy baskets for the ‘Vikes.   As usual, Gabrielle Olson was the floor leader. She passed out 11 assists and stole the ball five times.

“We were able to play a lot of different combinations of players the second half and worked on some defensive things that we may try the second half of the season,” Schindler continued.

Scoring Summary vs. Milaca 

Tiffany Good...........................7

Randi Zentner..........................8

Ellie Fairbanks........................2

Kristen Robatcek...................14

Jill VandenHeuval.................10

Marlayna Graff.......................4

Gabrielle Olson......................4

Ashley Johnson......................3  

St. Francis...........36......22......58

North Branch......26......31......57 

St. Francis was red hot for the first minutes of the game against the Vikings. Everything they threw toward the basket found the net.

“The first 10 minutes of the game they really dominated us,” said Schindler.  “We had a lot of breakdowns on the defensive end and they made us pay for that.”

At one point, the Saints had a 36-16 advantage and showed no sign of slowing down. After a North Branch timeout, the Vikings scored the final 10 points of the half to cut the lead to 36-26.

“We made some defensive adjustments at halftime and really came out and played great basketball the second half.  Tiffany Good and Kacie Ramberg hit some three pointers and our defense limited them to one shot,” Shindler added.

North Branch was the better team for much of the second half. Pressure defense led to numerous St. Francis turnovers and steals by the Vikings, who turned them into scoring opportunities. That resulted in a Viking 54-53 lead with 1:59 remaining.

The Saints regained the lead (56-54) on a basket at the 53 second mark. An Olson free throw, followed by two from Tiffany Good gave the Vikings a 57-56 lead with 25 ticks left.

“We knew they would want to get the ball to (#13) Salley their best player.  We did a great job denying her the ball but a foul was called on us with 4.7 seconds left 30 feet from the basket. Salley made both the free throws and a 40 foot shot by Tiffany Good hit both the front and back rim, but sailed out to end the game. 

“I am really proud of  the girls and the comeback that they made.  Even though we lost, I think it was a big confidence builder for our team. We know that we can play with the best teams in the new conference.

“Marlayna Graff had a huge game with 18 points and 14 rebounds. She is very capable of that and we just need her to do it on a more consistent basis.  That was her best game of the year.  Our girls really played with intensity the last 28 minutes of the game.  We just need to carry that over to each game, each night,” added Schindler. 

Olson had another good game with seven assists and six steals.

The loss moved the Vikings’ record to 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

Scoring Summary vs. St. Francis

Kacie Ramberg.........................4

Tiffany Good..........................12

Randi Zentner...........................3

Kristen Robatcek......................5

Marlayna Graff.......................18

Gabrielle Olson.......................11

Ashley Johnson........................4

The girls host rival Chisago Lakes on Thursday, January 12.

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