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Chisago Lakes 53, Robbinsdale Cooper 45

Following a brutal non-conference schedule, the Chisago Lakes girls basketball team opened up their North Suburban Conference shcedule with two straight wins.

The Cooper Hawks, who were 0-4 coming into the game, put an early scare into the Wildcats. Two straight three pointers put the Hawks up 6-0.

But, the Wildcats quickly settled down, and out-scored Cooper 29-13 the rest of the half.

The turnaround was sparked by sophomore sensation Whitney Tinjum. She hit a three pointer to chop the lead in half at 6-3, and then she got three points the old fashioned with with an and-one play.

The 'Cats suffocating defense led to a momentum swoon that sent them into the locker room up by 10 points.

"Our pressing defense led to two quick baskets by Kelsey Ristow toward the end of the half and we took the momentum into half time," Head Coach Craig Walker said.

After Chisago had built a sizeable lead, a steady stream of reserves starting hitting the court for the Wildcats, and it allowed the Hawks to draw much closer than they would've against the starters. In the end, Chisago Lakes came out on top by a tally of 53-45.

"This was a good win for us," Walker explained. "Going down to Robbinsdale and playing Cooper has always been difficult for us. The games are more physical than usual for some reason and we are not always used to that type of play. It did take us some time to get going, but we knew if we could keep their leading scorer, Kwanisha Patterson, under control and limit the opportunities of the other Cooper players, we'd be in the game. Patterson did not score in the first half and hit most of her 8 points against the Wildcat reserves in the final minute of play."

The Wildcat offense was paced by Tinjum and Ristow. Tinjum netted 19 points to stay in the state's top 10 scoring list and Ristow added 14 points.

Chisago Lakes 63, St. Louis Park 58

The Orioles of St. Louis Park were the first real conference test for the Wildcats, and they passed it despite early foul trouble.

St. Louis Park came into the game at 2-3, but their losses had come to some very large schools -- Lakeville South, Minneapolis Southwest and Edina -- who have a combined record of 16-4.

The Wildcats opened the game with a basket by Summer Young and Kasie Shoberg was finding openings for easy looks inside. Whitney Tinjum began finding openings for drives to the hoop.

It was a great start for the 'Cats, but the Orioles had some hot shooters from beyond the arc.

"We had an eight-point lead at one point in the first half, but Reed Maday (the Orioles three-point specialist) hit a couple threes to keep them around and even ahead at 22-20," Walker said. "Offensively, we were playing well, especially Summer who led the Wildcats with 10 first half points, but defensively the Orioles constant movement was causing foul issues."

Foul trouble started to get the best of the 'Cats, however when Shoberg, who was have a great first half, had to sit with her third foul of the opening half. The Wildcats size was really stunted when Shoberg's teammate in the post, Zoe Hansen, also had to sit with foul trouble.

Even with the foul struggles, the Wildcats stayed even with the Orioles, and at halftime, the game was knotted at 30-30.

With Shoberg and Hansen on the bench still, the Wildcats got an unlikely boost from back-up post player Brittney Land. "It was a big emotional lift for us to have Brittney come in and play a good six minutes and drop in four points," Walker said of his reserve.

Walker explained that the first of those two buckets was a highlight reel play off a an assist from Tinjum as Land's defender came to help on Tinjum's drive, and Tinjum dumped a pass to Land for an easy two-footer as bench erupted. "What I like best about our team at this point is that we rally around each other and really support one another on the court," Walker explained. "It would have been easy for the girls in foul trouble to pout and take themselves out of the game, but they responded positively and cheered and supported each other the entire night."

Even with the boost from Land, the game remained close throughout the second half. Kika Greenlee, the Orioles premier scorer, began to come alive, but so did Tinjum for the Wildcats.

Walker quickly realized that his sophomore superstar was in a rare zone and not many players were going to be able to slow her down. "It's not that Whitney wasn't producing, she had nine points in the first half, but she began to take advantage of the Oriole defensive scheme and take over the game for the Wildcats in the second half."

Walker moved Tinjum down low to take advantage of her size mismatch over the 5'7" Greenlee, who was guarding her. Although Tinjum is more comfortable on the outside, she has developed her game enough that she can score from almost anywhere on the court. "She was relaxed when we got the ball to her in the post and used her size to her advantage down the stretch by drawing fouls and making her free throws," Walker explained.

After an ill-advised three point attempt by the Orioles out of a timeout late, the 'Cats were in the drivers seat. "Usually, you'd like a set play out of a time out to get a good look at the basket, but that didn't happen for them," Walker noted. "I give Rachel Diers credit for part of that rushed shot. She played great defense on Greenlee late in the game."

Tinjum iced the game by going four-for-four from the free throw line in the last minute. Walker couldn't help but be impressed by what he saw. "Great players need to sometimes carry a team and Whitney did that for us in the second half tonight," he said. "Her free throws were the story late, but she did a great job getting her teammates the ball and they returned the favor by hitting the shots."

Tinjum had a game-high 25 points for the Wildcats, and Summer Young added a season-best 15 points.

Besides some smothering defense, guard Hannah Trandahl also scored seven points.

Hanna Trandahl dove for a ball against Anoka this week and attempted to call a timeout before she lost control.

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