March 9, 2006 at 7:52 a.m.
Viking basketball girls make it to section finals
Wins over Fridley and Spring Lake Park set up rematch with Rogers
Viking basketball girls make it to section finals
Defenses dominated the first half and it took more than three minutes for either team to get on the board. Marlayna Graff carried the scoring load for the Vikings at the start of the game. A Graff freethrow, closely followed by a putback gave the Vikes a 3-0 lead at the 14:15 mark. The senior center scored twice more to give her team a 7-2 advantage six minutes in.
A beautiful Gab Olson to Kristen Robatcek to Tiffany Good fast break gave the fans something to cheer about two minutes later. That was followed by a Jill Vanden Heuvel putback, a Good jumper and a Robatcek fast break layup.
Things really looked good for the Vikes after a good Good pass found Graff free for an easy two. North Branch had cruised to an 18-8 lead with 2:39 remaining when the offense went missing. Over the last two minutes, the Tigers outscored the Vikings 6-0 and it was 18-14 at the break.
The teams played even for the first third of the second period. Olson stole the ball, dribbled past and through the Tiger defenses and pulled up for a 10 foot jumper with 11:40 to go and the Vikings held a 23-18 lead.
Randi Zentner ignited the crowd with a falling down, desperation, half-hook a minute later. With a 25-20 lead, North Branch went on a three minute, 12-2 run that gave them a 37-22 lead with seven minutes left.
The Vikings continued the pace for the rest of the game. NB stifled the Tigers offense as they outscored Fridley 30-12 on the way to an easy win.
“Our girls seem to pick up their game for tournament play and we had some really good focused practices. Even though Fridley was the seventh seed, we knew it would be a tough game. They had played well down the stretch and had a couple of key players back in the line up,” said North Branch head coach Dan Schindler.
Jill Vanden Heuvel led the Vikings with seven steals, while Good and Olson had four each. Graff hauled in 13 rebounds to go with her four steals.
“Our press really worked well forcing 33 turnovers and some of them led into easy baskets for us. I am really pleased in how well we played team defense. We held their top two scorers to just six points combined.
“Our scouting reports get a little more detailed this time of year and the girls really did a good job of knowing (the game plan) and executing it. All you really want to do in the first round of the playoffs is get to the next round. We were able to do that,” Schindler added.
Scoring Summary
North Branch 18 30 48
Fridley 14 12 26
Tiffany Good ................... 9
Randi Zentner ................... 2
Kristen Robatcek................... 5
Marlayna Graff ................... 14
Gab Olson ................... 14
Kacie Ramberg ................... 2
Jill Vanden Heuvel ............... 2
Total 48
Vikings vs. Spring Lake Park
Hurdle number two was cleared, with no margin for breathing, at Osseo High School on Saturday, March 5 with a 49-48 win over the Spring Lake Park Panthers.
Two long jumpers by junior point guard Gab Olson put the Vikings up 4-0 after three minutes and it looked like North Branch head coach Dan Schindlers’ team might be off to an uncharacteristic fast start. But, two minutes later, after senior center Marlayna Graff scored on a feed from junior Tiffany Good, the Panthers tied it at six and it became obvious that this was going to be a close game throughout.
With 10:10 to go, the score was tied again at 13. During that span, Graff scored on a putback and sophomore Kristen Robatcek hit an eight-footer and a fast break layup. “Robo,” who spends more time on the floor than the custodian’s broom, went down hard when she was undercut scoring on the break. As usual, she popped right up to shoot her freethrow.
Olson hit a two and a three point play to give the Vikings a five point bulge (18-13) midway through the half. The margin grew to seven when junior Kacie Ramberg drilled a jumper with 8:10 left. Robatcek scored on a baseline drive, beat everyone downcourt for an easy bucket and swished a 16 footer to help her team maintain a lead over the next few minutes.
At the two minute mark, the Vikings led 26-20 and seemed to be controlling the tempo. However, the Panthers outscored North Branch 9-0 as the clock ran down and Spring Lake Park led 29-26 when the horn sounded.
The Vikings regained the lead two minutes into the second half when Olson found Good, who scored on an eight foot leaner. After a Panther hoop, Robo and Good scored to give the Vikes a 34-31 advantage with 12:25 left.
A Park timeout reversed the momentum and the Panthers scored the next seven. Schindler called a timeout to try to stem the flow at the seven minute mark. The Viking defense stiffened and Olson hit a three with 5:10 remaining. A minute later, ninth-grader Megan Scherer rose above everyone for a rebound, turned and fired an outlet pass to Olson, who found Robo ahead of the defense for a layup. With 3:43 left, the Vikings had regained the lead (39-38).
SLP scored the next three points from the Charity stripe to go ahead 41-39. Olson hit a two and a three before two more Park freethrows made it 44-43 North Branch. At the two minute mark, Good took a pass from Olson outside the arc and dropped a rainbow that gave the Vikings a 47-43 margin.
Two Spring Lake Park timeouts and two more Panther freethrows left North Branch with a 47-45 lead and the ball out of bounds under the SLP basket. Schindler used his third timeout with 28.1 to try to figure a way to get the ball in Olson’s hands.
It took two more timeouts in the next nine seconds, but the coach finally got the matchup he wanted. With 19.1 left, Olson got the ball. She spotted Robo near midcourt, who turned and threw the ball to Graff. Graff put it in for a 49-45 lead with 9.6 on the clock. The Panthers converted a three with 2.5 showing.
The Vikes held the ball and earned a trip to the Section 6AAA finals with a 49-48 win.
“We split with Spring Lake during the year and both teams are very evenly matched. They presented us with some tough physical match-ups as they are a very tall, physical team. But this team, I knew, would battle the whole game and I think we were able to wear them down just enough to counter that the second half,” Schindler commented.
At halftime... “We felt our defense could get better on their posts and talked about working harder the second half to stop that. Trailing by four points with about four minutes remaining Gabrielle Olson took over the game,” the coach continued.
“These girls are amazing. They just work so hard and find a way to win. We have had so many close games this year that they know what they have to do to win these type of games. I thought Kristen Robatcek really played well on both ends of the floor and Gab gave her some unbelievable passes on our break. Marlayna had 15 huge rebounds and Tiffany and Gab hit the big shots when we needed them. Kacie and Jill played great help defense and our bench players were really into the game and it was a great team effort.
“I am really proud of this team and coaching staff. They all do the extra stuff that it takes make things like this happen. Winning 20 games for the eighth time and getting to the finals for the seventh time is pretty special. The players deserve this. They work so hard are really fun to coach,” Schindler continued.
Viking fans have grown used to this kind of game. North Branch has had nine games decided by five or fewer and won six of them. The win was the third this year it has won by one point.
Scoring Summary
North Branch 26 23 49
Sp. Lake Park 29 19 48
Tiffany Good ................... 9
Randi Zentner ................... 1
Kristen Robatcek................... 14
Marlayna Graff ................... 11
Gab Olson ................... 11
Kacie Ramberg ................... 2
Total 49
North Branch now takes on Rogers the number 1 seed on Friday night at 6:00 at Osseo High School. Rogers beat North Branch 54-39 the first game of the season.
“After that loss, we talked about how we may get another chance at them. Its another tough matchup for us as they are very quick and have great shooters. But everyone is good this time of the year. It should be an exciting Championship game,” Schindler concluded.
Rogers and North Branch have identical 20-8 records. The winner will represent Section 6AAA in the upcoming state tournament.
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