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Chisago Lakes girls’ basketball team lost to St Louis Park 69-43 in the Orioles’ gym. The game, played Friday, February 24, was the final conference contest for both teams.

Wildcat coach Carl Pierson felt his team was not focused on the St. Louis Park game. He felt the team was still in a “celebration mode” after the win over North Branch.

The dominating Wildcat defense that limited North Branch to 16 first half points was nowhere to be found against the Orioles. St. Louis Park took advantage for a 35-26 halftime advantage.

Chisago opened the second half with a pressure defense to try to infuse some energy into the performance. Instead, SLP scored some easy baskets and Pierson pulled his starters. The Orioles soon expanded their margin to 20 on the way to an easy win.

SLP held a commanding lead in just about every category. The Orioles outrebounded the Wildcats 34-20. Chisago had 24 turnovers, compared to the Orioles’ 12. Park got to the freethrow line for 31 attempts.

“Before Friday night I would have been proud to say we are playing our best basketball just prior to the playoffs, but we didn't show up at all on Friday. It was as though, after beating North Branch, we had accomplished our goal for the week. Even at practice the two days prior to the Park game we really lacked focus and intensity,” Pierson said.

“Again, this is part of the maturation process. Hopefully we learned that, to be a good team, we have to approach every opponent like a rival because if you ease up even for a day or two, teams in this conference will punish you for it.

"The other thing we learned is that while we are capable of beating anyone, we are equally capable of losing to anyone if we don’t prepare ourselves mentally and execute fundamentally,” Pierson added.

“This team has grown a lot during the season and hopefully this game will be a lesson that will resonate for a while.”

Scoring Summary

Chisago Lakes 26 17 43

Sp. Lake Park 35 34 69

Chisago Lakes

Jess Peterson .....................12

Megan Corradi ..................... 5

Kori Sells ..................... 6

Courtney Skoog .................... 7

Jamie Tschida ..................... 4

Amanda Farrell ..................... 5

Alise Bowie ..................... 4

Total 43

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