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Irondale 83, Chisago Lakes 76

The Wildcats ran into a scorching-hot Irondale Knights team last week as they lost their second North Suburban Conference game of the year.

Coming into the game, the Knights were riding a five-game win streak, and since the game, they've gone on to stretch that to eight.

Irondale's hot shooting afforded them a huge first half lead. They hit seven threes in the half and shot 59 percent from the field, and at one point in the opening frame, the Wildcats were huffing and puffing as the Knights raced to an 18-point lead.

Before the halftime buzzer could sound, though, the senior-sophomore tandem of Kelsey Ristow and Whitney Tinjum lead a come back that left the 'Cats down only nine at the break.

The nine-point swing was brought about by Ristow scoring five of the last nine points for the 'Cats and Tinjum scoring six of her 11 first half points after CL was down by nearly 20.

In the second half, even though Irondale cooled down from the field, they still shot 40 percent, which is respectable, and they still shot lights-out from the free throw line, adding 25 points from the charity stripe alone.

Tinjum added 16 second half points, and Ristow scored another 11, but nobody was able to get to the free throw line consistently, and that meant precious time was always ticking off the clock when the 'Cats had the ball.

Tinjum finished the game with 27 points and 11 rebounds, and Ristow had 24 points and 11 rebounds on the night. Senior Summer Young also added 13 points and eight assists in the losing effort for the Wildcats.

"It's disappointing to score 76 points and lose, but hopefully we'll learn from this and see that we are maybe a step or two slow in our defensive movements and make those adjustments," Head Coach Craig Walker said. "Kelsey Ristow played a great game for us tonight. You can see her confidence growing night by night. Her improvement will really help us down the stretch."

St. Francis 57, Chisago Lakes 44

Although the girls played a good game against St. Francis, to defeat the Saints these days, teams need a flawless game plan and a perfect execution of it.

St. Francis had a 14-2 record coming into the game, including an unblemished 8-0 in the NSC.

St. Francis got off to a quick start, hitting two threes right away and building a 13-1 lead over the 'Cats. The game looked like it might get ugly quick, but CL wouldn't be bullied by the reigning NSC champions. Over most of the rest of the first half, the Wildcats went on a 17-2 run to actually grab a two point lead over the Saints in the first half.

However, St. Francis quickly answered the bell and slugged back, going on a 16-6 run to end the first half. "They are the reigning conference champions for a reason," Walker said. "They put a lot of pressure on you defensively. They handle the ball well on the drive, and shoot well on the kick out pass."

The duo of Melissa Borstner and Taylor Morrell led the charge for the Saints scoring eleven and nine points, respectively, as they enjoyed a 31-24 lead at halftime, while the Wildcats were led by Whitney Tinjum's 10.

The second half was more of a chess match between the two teams, as they played it out evenly.

The Chisago Lakes defense played the high-scoring Saints very tough, and forced them into some bad shots, but St. Francis played just as fierce on their defensive end, limiting Tinjum to just four points in the second half and 21 overall.

If the Wildcats could've strung together a little more offense, they would've been in much better shape, as the Saints shot just 11-of-42 from the field on the night. They did counteract that with their eight-for-17 performance from beyond the arc.

Ristow added 10 points in the second half, but it wasn't enough offense for the 'Cats as they fell 57-44 and moved to 6-3 in the conference.

The Saints were led by Morrell and Borstner, who each scored 18 points.

The Wildcats were led by Tinjum's 14 points and 13 rebounds. Ristow recorded her second straight double-double as she scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

"They are a good team. I would like to play them again, but this year we don't get the chance," Walker said. "This was a tough five game stretch for us starting back with Benilde last week (#2 3A) and then having to go to Fridley and Irondale where it's always tough to play and coming back home to host St. Francis and Totino Grace. We had hoped to get three wins in this stretch to stay in the conference championship race."

Although the Wildcats did salvage a 2-3 stretch with a victory over Totino-Grace on Monday, they are behind the eight ball when it comes to winning the conference title. They need St. Francis and Benilde-St. Margaret's to start stumbling hard, and there isn't any indication that will happen.

The loss meant that the Wildcats had lost back-to-back games for the first time this year, but they got a much-needed rebound win when they beat Totino-Grace 67-57 on Monday.

For more information on that game, check out next week's Chisago County Press.

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