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The Wildcat girls' basketball team ran into a buzz-saw Tuesday, December 18 at Chisago Lakes. The Totino-Grace Eagles raced out to a 29-6 lead in the first third of the game and went on to a 71-36 North Suburban Conference victory.

Wildcat senior Megan Corradi ripped the nets for 19 points, collected six rebounds and stole the ball seven times. However, no other Wildcat scored more than six points and the 'Cats couldn't match the balanced scoring attack of the Eagles.

Trailing 26-4, Wildcat head coach Craig Walker called a timeout with seven minutes left in the first period. A minute later, Summer Young's only basket seemed to have the Wildcats on the right path. But the Eagles came back to score the next two hoops before senior Kori Sells scored on a nice baseline drive to make it 29-8.

Three minutes later, it was 33-8 when Corradi went on a personal run. She scored two buckets and went two-for-two from the line in a 64-second span. Unfortunately, her output was matched by the Eagles, giving TG a 39-14 halftime lead.

The second half didn't go much better for the home team. In the first four and a half minutes, the Eagles put 10 more on the board before Young found Amanda Farrell open on the perimeter. The senior guard set her feet and drained a three to make it 49-17 in favor of Totino.

Farrell's shot was the start of the best streak of the game for CL. Including her three, the 'Cats ruffled the Eagles feathers 11-2 in a three minute run that left the score 51-25 with 10 minutes left.

Temporarily, a Wildcat full-court press bothered the Eagles enough for the Wildcats to get a few close-range scores. During that span, Corradi scored on a drive, a putback of a teammate's miss and another drive before Whitney Tinjum found Sells open for a short jumper.

But, Totino came storming back to score 10-in-a-row. Corradi stopped the Eagle surge with a hoop at the five minute mark. That made it 61-27.

Brenna Coyle scored her lone basket of the night when she muscled one up from inside 30 seconds later. In the final minutes, Corradi scored three more points and, in the last minute of play, sophomore Kelsey Ristow scored from the field and Tinjum's aggressive moves to the basket earned her two trips to the freethrow line.

The Wildcats showed some aggressive moves on the offensive end of the court, but not enough to compete with the Eagles. Totino dominated the boards, hauling down 36 rebounds, compared to 23 for the 'Cats. And, as in the two previous contests, turnovers, 24 of them, were a big problem for CL.

SCORING SUMMARY

Totino-Grace 39 32 71

Chisago Lakes 14 22 36

Wildcat Scoring

Amanda Farrell 3

Whitney Tinjum 2

Summer Young 2

Megan Corradi 19

Kori Sells 6

Brenna Coyle 2

Kelli Ristow 2

Total 36

The Wildcats begin the new year with a four game home stand when they host Columbia Heights at 7:15 Thursday, January 3.

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