---

The Chisago Lakes girls basketball team stayed with Benilde-St. Margaret's for the first five minutes Tuesday, January 30. But, the Red Knights were too strong for the Wildcats, as they pulled away for a 58-41 win at the CLHS gym.

A Jess Peterson freethrow at 16:41 was the first entry in the scorebook. Courtney Skoog's jumper a minute later gave the 'Cats their second lead at 4-2. The Knights ran off a quick five to take a 7-4 lead at 14:50.

The Wildcats came right back with six points in 40 seconds to take a lead. Kori Sells dropped a short two with 14:40. Thirty seconds later, junior sharpshooter Megan Corradi drained a long three. At 14:07, another Peterson freethrow gave the Wildcats a 10-7 lead, their biggest of the game, at 14:07.

Over the next four minutes, BSM went on a 9-0 run that left the Knights leading 16-10 with 10:38 left in the half. The only bright spot for CL during that span was an outstanding defensive play by Corradi.

The Knights had a three-on-one break with Corradi the lone defender. She held her position in the lane and forced a last second pass. Corradi turned and elevated to get her left hand on the ball as it left the shooter's hand. She picked it out of the air before she landed at the baseline and had the presence of mind to get it to a teammate before her momentum took her out of bounds.

A Kayla Schultz freethrow, followed by a pretty Corradi-to-Skoog-to-Peterson break put a temporary end to the Knight surge. CL was down 16-13 with 7:42 to go.

Things seemed to be going well for the home team and Benilde star Kachine Alexander was sitting on the bench with an ice bag on her left foot. Alexander came up hurting when she and Peterson went to the floor, scrambling for a loose ball in front of the scorers' table. Alexander's foot was broken and she'll be out for the remainder of the season.

However, with the Iowa recruit (Alexander) on the bench, BSM showed that they were a quality team by outscoring the 'Cats 12-4 before the intermission to take a 30-17 halftime lead.

The Wildcats played a more competitive second half. With five minutes to go, they had cut the Knights' lead to 11, but couldn't get any closer.

"Benilde is a great team.  Playing without their go-to athlete (Alexander), I thought they did a nice job of executing," said Wildcat head coach Liz Mundahl.

"We need to continue to work on being patient on offense and get a good look at the basket every possession.  Some of our shots were rushed,  which is one of the reasons we shot one for 20 from behind the three point arc. 

"It was an off night for everyone on the floor.  If a few of those three pointers go down, it's a new ball game. We've stepped up the defensive pressure in our last three games and we've been rebounding. We just have to get going," the coach added.

Chisago Lakes 17 24 41

Benilde 30 28 58

Chisago Lakes Scoring

Kayla Schultz 3

Kori Sells 6

Courtney Skoog 5

Megan Corradi 7

Jess Peterson 20

Total 41

Chisago Lakes at St. Francis

Friday, February 2

At St. Francis, the Wildcats played good defense the first half, limiting the high-scoring Saints to 23 points, and trailing by only three at the intermission.

"The first half was an aggressive and somewhat out of control style of basketball," coach Mundahl.  "St. Francis had 10 team fouls with about seven minutes left on the clock, which was a great position (for us) to be in as the visiting team. But, the end result was disappointing.

"We lost starters, Peterson and Sells, in the first half from injuries due to aggressive plays.  Peterson hyperextended her right elbow and Sells went out with a back injury.  We were playing great basketball in the first half and continued to play well through the adversity we faced.  Being down three at the half wasn't bad, considering the circumstances," the coach added. 

In the second half, the Saints used great shooting to pull away from the 'Cats. SF opened the half with three consecutive three pointers. 

"This game was a great learning experience for our younger players who got more playing time and contributed off the bench.  I thought the kids played hard and our leadership was excellent," Mundahl concluded.

Chisago Lakes 20 25 45

St. Francis 23 47 70

Megan Corradi 10

Rachel Lukasik 1

Jess Peterson 2

Kayla Schultz 11

Kori Sells 2

Courtney Skoog 7

Whitney Tinjum 6

Cassie Trandahl 4

Jaime Tschida 2

Total 45

Totino-Grace comes to the CLHS gym for a game with the Wildcats Tuesday, February 6. The 'Cats then travel to Irondale for a Friday, February 9 game. Both games start at 7:15

---