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In an up and down affair on Tuesday, January 24, the Chisago Lakes Wildcats came back from a late deficit to beat the North Branch Vikings 44-43.

The Wildcats took the early lead behind some nice play from Eva Aldrich and Bri Wille, and they led 16-6 in what looked like it was going to be a low-scoring affair.

But, the ‘Cats went cold for the rest of the first half while Kate Lattimore and Ella Kuhlman started to knock some shots down for the Vikings. Johanna Bartkey added a key basket and the Vikings turned their 10 point deficit into a four point lead at halftime.

But, Chisago Lakes found new energy in the second half and chopped the lead down before taking their own lead late and holding on for the one point win.

Aldrich and Wille scored 11 points each for the Wildcats, Kayla Larsen and Abby Sufka each netted seven and Marissa Peterson scored six. The ‘Cats hammered the Vikings on rebounds, and that was the difference in the game. Ellie Hilber and Peterson each had eight rebounds, Hattie Killeen and Larsen each had sev en and the team had 41 total. North Branch only grabbed 20 rebounds on the night.

Kuhlman had 15 points and six rebounds. Lattimore had 12 points and Bartkey had eight points and six rebounds.

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