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North Branch 56, Minneapolis Patrick Henry 17

In the opening game of the year, the North Branch girls basketball team got a mild warm-up in thrashing the Patrick Henry girls team for a full half before letting up on the throttle.

"This was a nice opener for us as we were able to play many different combinations of girls and work on some of our different offenses,"?Head Coach Dan Schindler said.

The Vikings press defense goaded the Patriots into turnover after turnover in the opening minutes. In the first five minutes of the first half, North Branch had a 23-0 lead.

By halftime, the girls had a mind-numbing 40-3 lead over the host Patriots.

The second half was more experimentation than anything. Schindler used different girls and different combinations to see if he could find anything effective in a game situation that he didn't see in practice.

The Vikings were still able to out score Henry in the seoncd half, 16-14.

The girls needed the boost.?Earlier in the week, they learned they would be losing a key member of their team,?Miranda Charley, for the season to a torn ACL.

Numerous girls got in on the scoring for the Vikings. Lone senior Megan Scherer led them with 15 points, and junior Onalee Yousey was right behind her with 10 points. Kendra Norman added eight points and Rikki Beaver and Jessica Audette both scored seven points in the winning effort.

Benilde-St.?Margeret's 65, North Branch 43

The story was a little different when the Vikings met North Suburban Conference power Benilde-St. Margaret's.

Many factors contributed to the loss, but none were more glaring than the Vikes inability to secure rebounds. They were beat in the rebounding department 43-27, which included 20 BSM offensive boards. "We had a hard time rebounding with their bigger and very athletic girls,"?Schindler said.

The Vikings started the game hot, racing out to an 8-2 lead, but then the Red Knights, like the seasoned veteran team they are, responded well with a 16-0 run. "We just couldn't score, and they were getting too many second shots," Schindler explained. "That's not a good combination to have."

Yousey and Norman teamed up for four straight baskets to cut the lead to nine at halftime, and the Vikings still had a chance if some of their shots started falling. Benilde quickly dashed that hope, however, by opening up the second half with eight straight points. The Red Knights basically controlled the game from that point on.

"We did some nice things in this game, but we had too many droughts in our scoring to stay with Benilde," Schindler noted. "This was a good learning experience for our young team and we learned what we need to improve on to compete with them and the other top teams in our conference."

Audette led the Vikings with 14 points, and Yousey chipped in 10 again. Norman also had eight points.

North Branch 65, Columbia Heights 33

The girls picked up their first NSC win of the year with an impressive performance against the Hylanders of Columbia Heights.

In the tail end of their busy opening week, it would've been easy for the girls to come out flat with no energy, but it was the exact opposite. "I really liked ou intensity early in this game,"?Schindler said. "We seemed much more settled down this game and did a much better job shooting the basketball and taking better shots."

Scherer, who is the only senior on the team, had a huge game for the Vikes. She punished the Columbia Heights' post defenders with her inside moves while scoring 22 points. She also grabbed 16 rebounds. "We wanted to get the ball on the inside more, and we did a nice job of that and it showed," Schindler said. "Megan did a nice job scoring and rebounding for us."

Of course, with Scherer and Beaver, who grabbed 11 boards and scored seven points, pounding away down low, the perimeter was opened up for North Branch's sharp shooters. Norman hit three three-pointers en route to 12 points and five steals. Audette added seven points and four steals.

"I thought Kendra and Jessica did a nice job in the top of defense," Schindler noted. "Each game we learn a little more about our team and we are hoping to continue to learn and get a set rotation by our holiday tournament."

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