December 6, 2007 at 9:55 a.m.
Wildcats and Vikings renew rivalry, Wildcats by 4
Wildcats and Vikings renew rivalry, Wildcats by 4
Wildcat eighth grader Whitney Tinjum scored the first conference point for either team when she made one of two freethrows 14 seconds into the game. In a game filled with early turnovers, Viking senior center Ashley Johnson gave the Vikings a 2-1 lead when she hit two from the charity stripe at 15:33. CL sophomore Summer Young tied it 30 seconds later with a freethrow.
Nobody scored from the field until Viking freshman Kendra Norman dropped a 12 footer with 13:17 left. Norman scored again, before Sells scored from short range at 12:40, leaving the Vikings with a 6-4 lead.
Then, NB sophomore Becca Collins hit a two from the lane to put the Vikings up by four. Senior Megan Corradi was fouled on a spin move at the the end of a Wildcat fast break. Her freethrow brought her team within three at 11:13 before Viking senior Alyssa Peterson hit a three. This gave the Vikings an 11-5 lead, their biggest of the game, with 9:52 to go in the half.
The Wildcats came right back. Senior Amanda Ferrell hit a mid-range jumper, senior Brenna Coyle and Sells scored on back-to-back put-backs, knotting it at midway through the half. Sophomore Amanda Sylla hit a short one to give the Vikings a 13-11 lead with 8:00 on the clock.
Sells hit the next three Wildcat hoops from the floor over an 80 second span to help the Wildcats to a 19-15 lead with 4:36 left in the first period. Norman hit her third and fourth freethrows before Alyssa Lundberg found Corradi open for a hoop at 3:35. That gave CL a 21-17 advantage.
North Branch head coach Dan Schindler called a timeout to try to stem CL's momentum. It worked for a while. Senior Cori Fairbanks' freethrow at 2:45 closed the gap to 21-18. A Sells put-back 30 seconds later pushed the lead to five. When Wildcat sophomore Kelsey Ristow scored on a Corradi assist, CL led 25-18. Peterson scored for NB, but another Sells put-back and a Farrell freethrow made it 28-20, in favor of Chisago Lakes, at the half.
The first 11 minutes of the second half saw the Wildcats maintain their lead and, with seven minutes left in the game, it was 40-32. At that point, the Vikings' defensive pressure helped them come back. NB gradually whittled away the CL lead. With 30 seconds on the clock, Fairbanks hit a Viking three and Wildcat lead was one point.
However, Young and Ristow each made two free throws in the closing seconds to assure the win. The Chisago Lakes victory left it 1-0 in the North Suburban Conference and 1-2 overall. The Vikings fell to 0-1 in the NSC and 0-2 on the season.
SCORING SUMMARY
Chisago Lakes 28 25 53
North Branch 20 29 49
Chisago Lakes Scoring
Kelsey Ristow 4
Amanda Farrell 3
Whitney Tinjum 7
Summer Young 5
Megan Corradi 8
Kori Sells 24
Brenna Coyle 2
Total 53
North Branch Scoring
Cori Fairbanks 8
Alyssa Peterson 5
Jessica Audette 1
Kendra Norman 14
Rebecca Collins 5
Amanda Sylla 4
Ashley Johnson 12
Total 49
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