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The North Branch girls' basketball team split two conference games last week.  They lost to fifth ranked Totino-Grace and then picked up a conference road win over Irondale. 

Totino-Grace at North Branch

After winning seven straight in the North Suburban Conference, the Viking girls' basketball team suffered its second consecutive loss. Poor shooting, which had plagued North Branch early in the season, returned in a 47-38 loss to league-leading Totino-Grace at NBHS Tuesday, February 13.

Only senior Tiffany Good scored for the Vikings in the first five minutes. When North Branch head coach Dan Schindler took his first timeout, the Vikings trailed 10-2.

When play resumed, NB went on a 7-0 run to make it close. At 13:10, senior Kacie Ramberg hit from the top of the key to put three on the board. Gabrielle Olson's drive to the hoop resulted in two freethrows a minute later. With 10:21 left in the half, sophomore Megan Scherer picked off an offensive rebound and made a quick baseline move that netted a basket. The Vikings trailed 10-9.

The Eagles retaliated with a 12-2, four-minute surge that put them in command 22-11. While Totino was scoring, Olson picked up her second personal and was forced to become less aggressive. The Vikings' lone score during that span came after Olson fed Ashley Johnson in the lane.

Just when it appeared the Vikings were on the ropes, Ramberg went to work. The Wildcat senior hit a pull-up jumper at 6:34 to make it 22-13. Thirty seconds later, Olson found Ramberg open and she converted. Olson followed that with two freethrows and, at 5:27, the Vikings had crawled back to 22-17.

An Eagle three increased the lead to 25-17 at 4:44. Before the half, Olson hit a short banker and scored on two drives while Totino scored twice from the field. The half ended with a 29-23 advantage for the visitors.

" We trailed at halftime, but felt, if we continued to carry out the game plan, we could win," Schindler said.

North Branch narrowed the Eagle lead to 37-34 with 11 minutes left. Then, neither team scored for seven consecutive possessions. After that, Totino pulled away for the win.

"The basket just seemed to have a lid on it. We got good shots but finished the game one for 16 shooting and that was the difference," Schindler added. "We really did everything we wanted to against them.  We played great defense on their big center and held her to only six points for the game.  We made them shoot from the outside and we held them under 50 points.  We felt if we could do those things, we had a great chance to get a win.

"I thought our post players, Randi Zentner, Ashley Johnson and Megan Scherer, played great post defense on their big center.  It actually was a frustrating loss because we did everything we wanted, except put the basketball in the hoop down the stretch," the coach commented.

"Kacie Ramberg continues to play solid basketball for us. Tiffany Good (9) and Randi Zentner (7) led us in rebounding.  It was a good basketball game.  We hope we get a chance to play them again," Schindler concluded.

North Branch 23 15 38

Totino-Grace 29 18 47

North Branch Scoring

Kacie Ramberg 9

Tiffany Good 2

Randi Zentner 6

Kristen Robatcek 6

Gabrielle Olson 9

Megan Scherer 4

Ashley Olson 2

Total 38 

North Branch at Irondale

Thursday, February 15 

North Branch won its ninth conference game and 13th of the season with a hard-fought 73-59 win at Irondale.

"This was a high-paced, up-and down-the-court basketball game," coach Schindler said.  "All of those shots we seemed to miss at the end of the Totino game were falling in this one." 

The Vikings led 24-20 midway through the first half.  Both teams   shot well the whole period as North Branch took a 39-30 halftime lead. In the second half, North Branch spent most of the game at the free throw line, where they were 29 for 54.

"I didn't like that we missed 25 free throws, but it was sure nice to get there 54 times," said Schindler   "It's been a long time since I can remember shooting 54 free throws in a game." 

Gabrielle Olson had another great game with 18 points, including eight for nine from the freethrow line, 13 rebounds and 9 assists.  Kristen Robatcek added 17 points and Tiffany Good had 14 points and 11 rebounds. 

"It was a very good basketball game for us and it marked the fifth team that we beat the second time after losing to them in the first round of the conference," Schindler commented. 

North Branch 39 34 73

Irondale 30 29 59

North Branch Scoring

Kacie Ramberg 7

Tiffany Good 14

Randi Zentner 6

Kristen Robatcek 17

Megan Scherer 3

Amy Aho 3

Lacee Scherer 1

Gabrielle Olson 18

Ashley Johnson 4

Total 73

After starting the conference 1-7, the Vikings are now 9-9 and 13-11 overall.  The win puts them in the top half of North Surburban Conference.  They finish their regular season at Robbinsdale-Cooper Friday, February 23 at 7:15. Section Tournaments start on Thursday, March 1.

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