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The Viking girls went one-for-three in the final week of the regular season. Tuesday, February 19 they won at Columbia Heights. They finished the week at home with losses to Moose Lake/Willow River and Robbinsdale-Cooper.

At Columbia Heights

Sophomore Amanda Sylla scored 18 points, leading the Vikings to a 69-43 win at Columbia Heights.

Commenting on the win, NB head coach Dan Schindler said, "It's sure a lot more fun to be on the winning side of the scoreboard. Our press worked well and we were able to turn some turnovers into points in the first half."

Sylla had her best game of the season, leading the Vikes with 18 points and 8 rebounds. "Amanda has so much natural ability and she is learning every game. Like so many of our players this year, she is learning on the job," Schindler added. "Cori Fairbanks also had a nice game for us with four steals and 11 points. Cori, like all of our seniors, has worked hard this year and it was great to see her put the ball in the hoop."

North Branch led 32-17 at halftime and cruised to its third North Suburban Conference victory.

GAME SUMMARY

Columbia Hts 15 28 43

North Branch 32 37 69

Viking Scoring

Cori Fairbanks 9

Kristen Robatcek 13

Megan Scherer 11

Amanda Sylla 22

Kristen Kaminski 3

Rikki Beaver 2

Ashley Johnson 6

Rebecca Collins 2

Miranda Charley 1

Total 69

Moose Lake/Willow River at North Branch

The Vikings couldn't hold on to a 10-point first-half lead as the Rebels won 54-50 Thursday, February 21.

Moose Lake broke out to a 5-0 lead in the first two minutes minutes before Viking senior Kristen Kaminski broke the ice for the home team. In the Vikings' next possession, Megan Scherer took the ball on the wing, faked a shot and drove the left side. Her five-footer closed the gap to one. At the 14 minute mark, Kendra Norman grabbed her own miss and gave the Vikings their first lead, 6-5.

Following a Rebel field goal, Kristen Robatcek's two freethrows gave the Vikings the lead at 11:51. Sylla scored her first two, giving the Vikings a 10-7 lead with 10:42 on the clock.

MLWR scored the next four to retake the lead before NB came right back. Midway through the period, Scherer drove the left side, again, and, 25 seconds later, the Vikings went back on top when Robatcek scored. Her banker from the left block gave her team a 14-11 advantage.

The visitors from the north retook the lead on four quick points. With eight minutes left, the Rebels were up 15-14.

Then, North Branch went on an 11-0, two-minute run that gave them a 10-point lead. Kaminski got things going with back-to-back jumpers. Robatcek followed with a fast break layup and freethrow. Scherer went two-for-two from the foul line before Ashley Johnson completed the surge with a putback of her own miss. With six minutes left, the home team enjoyed a 25-15 lead.

Just when it looked like the Vikings were about to run away from the visitors, the Rebels ended their drought with a three at 5:10. Scherer answered with another successful drive. With 4:40 left, NB led 27-18.

Then, the Rebels went on their own run. They ripped the nets for nine points in the next 1:30. With three minutes left, the Viking lead was gone.

Kaminski hit another jumper and Robatcek went three-for-four from the line before the half. Meanwhile, the Moose Lakers hit a pair of field goals. When the horn sounded, the Vikings led 32-31.

"We played a very good half and led at the break. We would have led by more, but offensive rebounding by Moose Lake really hurt in this one," Schindler explained.

While the first half was played at an up-tempo, entertaining pace, the second half was played at a much slower pace with less scoring. When senior Cori Fairbanks scored with 7:20 remaining, the Vikings were still leading.

But, their 44-38 advantage started to erode from that point. At 4:30 Robatcek scored two from the charity stripe and the Vikings were ahead 46-43. Two minutes later, Scherer scored from the paint and the Vikings regained the lead.

That 48-47 lead was the last they would enjoy. Robatcek's two-pointer with five seconds left was the only offense the Vikings could manage in the last minutes. Meanwhile, the Rebels scored seven, including five from the freethrow line, to gain a come-from-behind four-point win.

"This game really summed up our season. We played hard, but lack of second-half scoring and rebounding cost us this one," Schindler continued. "They were really tall and physical compared to us and we just didn't do a good enough job on the boards. Many times we had inside position, but we didn't do a good job of putting a body on them and they just jumped over us for the rebound.

"We led with about 6:00 left, but lack of scoring the rest of the way really hurt us. We had three possessions with a six-point lead and didn't score on any of them.

"For the game Moose Lake had 23 offensive boards for 18 second-chance points. Our effort was good, but we just can't give up that many offensive rebounds and expect to win," the coach added.

GAME SUMMARY

Moose Lake 31 23 54

North Branch 32 18 50

Viking Scoring

Cori Fairbanks 2

Kristen Robatcek 17

Megan Scherer 10

Amanda Sylla 4

Kristen Kaminski 8

Rikki Beaver 1

Ashley Johnson 2

Kendra Norman 6

Total 50

Robbinsdale-Cooper at NB

Friday, February 22

The Vikings' regular season ended with a 46-33 loss to Cooper Friday, February 22 in North Branch.

The Vikings started the game on a positive note, hitting five of their first eight shots including three-pointers by Cori Fairbanks, Kristen Kaminski and Kristen Robatcek. However, after that, poor shooting and turnovers, two things the team has struggled with all season, hurt them, again.

After that, NB hit only two of its next 11 shots and committed 16 first-half turnovers. "We need to make better decisions with the basketball," Schindler said. "We can't give away 16 possessions. We only trailed by three points at halftime, but more poor shooting in the second half (4-25) was the difference. Our defense and effort is good enough to win some of these games, but we need to be more consistent on the offensive end."

GAME SUMMARY

Cooper 23 23 46

North Branch 20 13 33

Cori Fairbanks 3

Kristen Robatcek 11

Kristen Kaminski 5

Kendra Norman 2

Megan Scherer 5

Rebecca Collins 4

Amanda Sylla 2

Ashley Johnson 1

"We are looking forward to the post season. The girls continue to work hard and we are looking forward to playing Chisago Lakes. We certainly know a lot about them. They have been one of the best teams in our conference the second half of the year, so we will have to play a smart game to have a chance," Schindler concluded.

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