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The Viking girls basketball team had two great comebacks last week. But neither ended with wins as they lost one-point and three-point games in NSC play.

St. Louis Park at NB

Tuesday, January 22

St. Louis Park 62, NB 61

St. Louis Park jumped out to an early 20-8 lead. For the rest of the half, the teams played fairly even basketball. "We really battled with them, but still trailed by ten at halftime, 39-29," said Viking head coach Dan Schindler.

"St. Louis Park is a very good offensive team and we had a hard time slowing them down. We actually shot 50 percent in the first half and that kept us in the game. Ashley Johnson had a big first half for us, scoring 11 points and keeping us in the game.

"At halftime we made some defensive adjustments and they really worked the second half," Schindler continued. The Vikings scored the first 12 points of the second half to take a 41-39 lead.

"But, it seems just as we start to get playing good basketball this season, something happens to us," the Viking mentor said. This time, it was a key injury that slowed the Vikings. Senior center Ashley Johnson broke a bone in her hand.

"She actually played some after that, but just wasn't able to go," Schindler added. Her replacement, sophomore Amanda Sylla, came in and played very well in the second half. She finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.

"St. Louis Park made some key freethrows to secure the win. It was a great effort by our team. Our girls play so hard, but we just haven't gotten that one key break or one big shot to get over the hump at the end of the game."

The coach added, "But, these games are making us a better team and we are learning, as a team, how to play in pressure situations. We ended up with four girls in double figures. We did a lot of good things in this game and we need to focus on that and keep improving for the tournament. The loss of Ashley will really hurt us, but it's part of the game and we need everyone else to step it up even more without her," Schindler said.

Megan Sherer had a good game, leading the Vikings in scoring with 16, while grabbing eight rebounds. Johnson had 13 points and 10 rebounds before leaving with the injury.

GAME SUMMARY

St. Louis Park 39 23 62

North Branch 29 32 61

Kristen Robatcek 14

Kendra Norman 2

Megan Scherer 16

Amanda Sylla 16

AshleyJohnson 13

Total 61

Fridley at North Branch

The Vikings erased a 10-point Fridley advantage in a four minute span near the end of the game Friday, February 1 in the North Branch gym. But, Fridley scored the game's last three points from the freethrow line to save a 43-40 win over NB.

As it has many times this season, the Viking offense had trouble getting untracked. The Tigers outscored NB 10-3 in the first three minutes before Kristen Robatcek spotted Kendra Norman all alone in the left corner. Robatcek's cross court assist gave Norman the chance for a three. She set her feet and nailed the shot, cutting the Fridley lead to 10-6 with 14:25 in the half.

However, tthe Viking offense went back into hibernation for more than six minutes. By then, the Tigers had built a 20-6 lead. "It was a frustrating loss as we played well enough to win, but just didn't make enough shots. We started the game two-for-20 shooting, and both of those were three pointers," coach Schindler commented.

Just when it seemed that the Vikings would remain in their cave, their defense woke them. Robatcek's steal and layup at 7:40 keyed an 8-0 run that put Schindler's team in the hunt. After Robatcek's basket, Norman hit a three from the same corner she shot from earlier. Jessica Audette followed that with another three. The long bank shot closed the gap to 20-14 with 4:10 remaining.

Two minutes later, the Tigers regained the momentum. Fridley scored seven points before the half. Meanwhile, Megan Scherer's successful conversion of a one-and-one produced the only Viking points. That meant that the Tigers took a 27-16 lead into the locker room.

"Poor shooting has hurt us all year and it continued tonight," Schindler said. "But, as always, our girls never quit. After being down by 11 at halftime we kept battling."

In the first half of the second period, Fridley extended its lead. At the 8:50 mark, the Tigers were up 36-21 before a trio of Viking underclassmen gave them a spark. Sophomore Amanda Sylla hit back-to-back shots from inside, the second after a steal and feed by Norman, a freshman. At 7:05, sophomore Rikki Beaver completed a 7-0 run with a three that made it a 36-28 game.

The Tiger lead was 40-30 with 5:30 left when Scherer hit the front end of a one-and-one to start the Viking surge. At 4:00, Robatcek stole the ball, drove for a layup and was fouled. She completed the three-point-play, cutting the deficit to six. With 2:34 left, Sylla hit two freethrows and, 45 seconds later Scherer hit one foul shot. With 1:46 to go, Fridley's lead was 40-37.

Audette completed the comeback when she took the ball near the Fridley freethrow line. She went coast-to-coast, interrupted by a spin move at the top of the key on the NB end, and drove the lane. She made the runner, was fouled and converted the penalty throw.

With 90 ticks left, it was 40-40. Neither team was able to hit from the field in the final seconds. But, three Tigers scored single freethrows to help them escape with the three-point conference win.

"We started the second half 1-16 shooting," Schindler added, "but our defense kept us in the game. We just missed too many shots. Against Fridley, we were only 11-63 (17 percent) while Fridley was 15-35 (43 percent). When you take 28 more shots than the other team, you should get a win.

"Our effort is great and these girls just won't quit. I keep telling the girls I believe we can be a factor in the tournament and, if we can just get off to better starts shooting the basketball, we will.

"Amanda Sylla started her first varsity game and did a great job for us replacing Ashley (Johnson). She led us with 11 rebounds. Freshman Kendra Norman made 3 three-pointers for us and sophomore guards Rikki Beaver, Miranda Charley, and Jessica Audette are coming off the bench and giving us some good energy.

"Losses aren't fun, but hopefully we are learning from them and we are learning what it takes to win. We have to play a full 36 minutes of basketball in our league. I am lucky to coach great girls and they continue to keep working extremely hard," Schindler said.

GAME SUMMARY

Fridley 27 16 43

North Branch 16 24 40

Viking Scoring

Cori Fairbanks 1

Kristen Robatcek 10

Jessica Audette 6

Kendra Norman 9

Megan Scherer 5

Amanda Sylla 6

Rikki Beaver 3

Total 40

"The first time we played Fridley and St. Louis Park, we lost by a combined 37 points. This time we lost by a combined four points. We are improving and getting better, but we won't be happy until we can get some wins out of these good efforts," Shindler concluded.

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