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North Branch Girls - Split two contests
The Lady Vikes split two games last week, winning a conference match up against Buffalo before losing to non-conference foe Chatfield.
In the Buffalo game,  Megan Becklin came through big time for North Branch, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 boards for her first career double-double.

The Vikings jumped to an early lead and were up 31-16 at halftime before easing into a 58-43 victory. Courtney Selbitschka and Morgen Coleman each had 20 points in the win.

In their loss against Chatfield, the VIkings could not get their shots to fall. They shot only 10-of-40 from the field and five-of-15 form the beyond the arc.

It was a struggle all day. Outside of Coleman’s five made field goals, only one other player hit more than one field goal, and that was Selbitschka with two.

Despite that, the girls ‘ defense kept them in it and they had a chance to tie in the waning seconds, but as had been the case all day, the shot didn’t fall. “We did some good things defensively, but we made mistakes and just didn’t play well offensively,” Head Coach Jerome Huselid said.

North Branch Boys - Earn third win of the season
Coming out of the holiday break hasn’t been kind to the North Branch boys team. They dropped three straight blowouts to Coon Rapids, Buffalo and Big Lake from January 2 to January 8, but did pick up a victory over the Chatfield Gophers on Saturday, January 9.

Cole Pearson scored 14 points and Nick Kress added nine to help the Vikes to a 66-41 win, their third on the season.

Chisago Lakes Boys - Ethan Hickcox cannot be stopped
After an even first half against the Cambridge-Isanti  Bluejackets, the Wildcats pulled away with a 55 point second half to earn a M8C win on Tuesday, January 5.

The offense exploded in the second half behind 21 points from Carter Duncan, 20 from Trevin Nelson and 12 each from brothers Arran and Ethan Hickcox. Ethan Hickcox recorded a rare high school triple double on the night, adding 11 rebounds and 12 assists. The senior guard also had four steal in an impressive night.

Facing a tough Rogers team on Friday, January 8, the Wildcats again found themselves in a shootout. They hung with the Royals early, only down 43-40 at halftime, but they couldn’t keep up in the second half as Rogers won 85-69.

Duncan had 22 points, Nelson added 16 and E. Hickcox scored 11 while Dylan Wood added 10 points. E. Hickcox wasn’t far off of another triple double, adding seven rebounds and seven assists.

Steffan Musoke and Allen Wilson combined for 55 points for the Royals.

On Monday, January 11, the Ethan Hickcox show rolled right through Princeton and left the Tigers in its dust.

After his two impressive performances last week, he started this week off with a bang against Princeton. He scored 32 points and had 10 rebounds and eight assists in a 90-70 drubbing of Princeton.

In the three game stretch, Hickcox is averaging 18.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and nine assists, which is just otherworldly numbers, even in high school.

Duncan had a nice game for the ‘Cats also, scoring 23 points and grabbing six boards.

Hickcox will see if he can extend his hot streak as the ‘Cats try to exact some revenge against St. Francis on Friday, January 15 at home.

Chisago Lakes Girls - Backes and Bjelland go down
The Lady ‘Cats were already having a tough season and it got even worse last week. Star sophomore Carmen Backes suffered a broken vertebrae in her back and key post player Alyssa Bjelland suffered a dislocated shoulder. Backes is out for the forseeable future and Bjelland may be out for the season.

“Any injury is unfortunate, but Alyssa was just beginning to adjust to her role on our team and was contributing offensively and defensively.  She was statistically our best player in our last five games,” Head Coach Craig Walker said. “Carmen's been playing hurt for around three weeks.  Anyone that has seen her play before the injury could see she was in pain and finally got an MRI and found the cause.”

On the court, the losses paled in comparison to the ones off the court. The ‘Cats dropped a conference match up against Rogers 64-33 and a section match up against Grand Rapids 69-55.

“We fight with our fundamentals and decision making on a nightly basis,” Walker explained. “But we're on the right track.  Sally Nelson played a great game offensively and defensively against Grand Rapids.  She played with the energy that we need from all our players.”

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