---

With a surprise run to the section championship game this year, the North Branch girls basketball team has a sturdy foundation on which to build upon for the future.

Parlaying a 16-13 record into the second seed in Section 3AAA, the girls knocked off rival Chisago Lakes in the first round for the third time this year, then out-worked a bigger Spring Lake Park team in the second round of section to earn a berth against the Totino-Grace Eagles in the section championship game.

Much like the two meetings the squads had before this one, the Eagles negated the Vikings quickness and pounded them with their size en route to a big win.

But, with only one senior on the roster, the Vikings hadn't been expected to be nearly as competitive as they were.

One thing North Branch athletics always excels in, however, is their performance in the classroom during their sports seasons. This basketball team was no different, capturing the Section 3AAA Academic Team Award, which goes to the team with the highest cumulative grade point average in the section. The girls held a 3.723 GPA between them.

They would've had numerous All-State and All-Conference Academic performers, but to be eligible for that award, players must be seniors. The lone senior on the team, Megan Scherer, earned both All-North Suburban Conference and All-State in the academics field.

Scherer, along with sophomore Kendra Norman were named to the All-NSC squad.

Norman was the Vikings leading scorer at 11.1 points a game. She also added 4.6 rebounds per game, which is astounding given the fact that she is only 5'3".

Scherer, in her final season for the Vikings, ended up scoring 9.5 points per game along with 7.5 boards. She nudged her way into the top 20 career scoring leaders in North Branch history, coming in at 20th place with 501 points. Norman, however, is likely to push her out next year as she ended the season in 25th place with 449 points.

Juniors Rebecca Collins and Jessica Audette both earned All-Conference Honorable Mention for their efforts on the season.

Audette, who is a guard, was often slashing to the basket and laying her body on the line to create shots for her teammates. She scored 7.8 points a game for the Vikings, and created numerous opportunities for her supporting cast.

The benefactor of many of those passes was Collins, who at 5'9" was one of the Vikings biggest targets. She scored 6.1 points per and led the Vikes in rebounding at 7.8 a game.

Other awards that the Vikings handed out at their banquet included:

Collins and Audette as the Most Improved Players, Norman as the Vikes best offensive threat, Collins as the Best Defensive Player and Best Rebounder.

Onalee Yousey won the Best Team Player Award, Cassedy Coleman was the Rookie of the Year, and the Viking Award went to Miranda Charley and Kallie Grote. Charley was also recognized as one of the state's Excel Award winners.

Jerome Huselid was recognized as the Section 3AAA Assistant Coach of the Year behind the bench. Also managers Gerriann Buisman and Andrea Yelle, as well as video specialist Hannah Zimmerman all earned letters from beyond the court.

On the court, Scherer, Collins, Norman, Audette, Charley, Coleman, Yousey, Jose Forstrom, Rikki Beaver, Laura Aho, Katherine Helbig and Chelsea Tolberg all earned letters.

With a little more senior depth next year, the girls have more options for leadership, as such, Audette, Beaver and Collins were named the captains.

---