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CHISAGO LAKES BOYS

The Chisago Lakes Wildcats are back on track to earn their first ever uncontested Mississippi 8 Conference championship.

After taking care of business against St. Francis and Becker last week, they stayed tied with conference leader Cambridge-Isanti. But, earlier this week, the Bluejackets dropped their final game of the season to Big Lake, giving them a M8C mark of 12-4. 

The worst CL can do at this point is share the conference title, but they are currently 12-3 with one game remaining. They could wrap up the title on their own with a win in their last game of the year. But, that game does happen to be against the same Big Lake team that just spoiled C-I’s chances at a solo conference championship on Thursday, February 29 at 7 p.m. at Big Lake High School.

Chisago Lakes 95, Becker 84

To get to this spot, the Wildcats had to beat a tough Becker team that was tied for third place in the conference coming into the contest.

Patrick Rowe dominated the contest, scoring 31 points and dishing out 15 assists for the ‘Cats, as they took over in the second half after an even first half.

Zander Schmidt, Blake Siefet and Luke O’Malley were all benefactors of the Rowe assists as the trio combined for 33 points on eight three pointers. Schmidt also added five steals on defense, which was key in a game that was otherwise high scoring.

Ian Larsen added 10 points and Ben Paulsen had an 11 point effort as the ‘Cats dispatched the ‘Dogs.

Hermantown 104, Chisago Lakes 101

In a star-studded showdown that will most likely determine the top seed in Section 7AAA, Hermantown’s Abraham Souris got the better of Rowe and the Wildcats in a thrilling 104-101 win on Monday, February 26.

Rowe had a magical game for the ‘Cats with a triple double. He scored 44 points to go along with 12 rebounds and 12 assists, but Souris scored 48 points for Hermantown in the duel.

Defense wasn’t exactly at a premium in this contest. It’s rare to see one high school hoops team eclipse 100, much less both, but it was entertaining for the Wildcats faithful. Paulsen scored 15 points, Schmidt had 14 and Larsen chipped in 12, but the ‘Cats just couldn’t overcome Souris and the trio of Nathan Hill, Peyton Menzel and Lance Janson, who combined for 41 points in a supporting effort for Hermantown.

The loss sent the Wildcats to an 18-7 record overall, and 2-2 within section play, while Hermantown moved to 19-6 and 9-2 in sections with the win.

The section is seeded by the QRF formula from minnesota-scores.net, and although Chisago Lakes is currently still ahead of Hermantown, the margin is small enough that it would move to the tiebreaker formula instead, and the first tiebreaker is head-to-head matchups. That means Chisago Lakes will now likely be the second seed in Section 7AAA and Hermantown should be the top seed when postseason play starts next week.

NORTH BRANCH BOYS

The Vikings’ have struggled down the stretch as they come to the end of their regular season.

After what looked like a season-defining win against Chisago Lakes on Tuesday, February 6, North Branch has lost four games in a row, including three against Monticello, St. Francis and Princeton, all of whom were in the bottom four of the conference standings at the time.

Monticello 78, North Branch 48

Last week started with a non-competitive blowout loss to Monticello for the Vikings.

The Magic were up by almost 20 at halftime and just continued to pour it on in the second half despite reserves parading into the game.

Tyler Minke led the Vikes with 19 points and Brody Beaver had 16, but nobody else had more than three points for North Branch in the loss to the Magic, who were 8-15 coming into the game.

St. Francis 69, North Branch 59

Things didn’t get much better when the Vikings went on the road to play St. Francis on Thursday, February 22.

The Saints were 9-14 coming into the contest and they still managed a double digit win over the Vikes.

Minke had 19 points again to go with nine rebounds and Beaver had 16 points and three assists. Evan Overson had 13 boards in the game, but St. Francis just out-muscled NB throughout the game.

NORTH BRANCH GIRLS

Ella Kuhlman etched her name into North Branch history last week by becoming the leading scorer in North Branch girls history.

The junior scored her 1,633rd career point in a loss last week.

Although the record didn’t translate to a win for the Vikings, they did follow the it up with a nice 62-51 victory over St. Francis in the next game.

Kuhlman was the star of the show in that contest, scoring 29 points after hitting five three pointers. 

Kayla Diedrich scored 11 points, Bella Folkema chipped in 10 and Jo Bartkey had nine in the winning effort.

The Vikings drew the fourth seed in Section 7AAA and hosted fifth-seeded Hermantown on Wednesday, February 22 after the Press went to print.

If the Vikes win, they’ll move on to play top seeded Rock Ridge on Saturday, March 2 at Rock Ridge.

CHISAGO LAKES GIRLS

The Wildcats ended their season on a six game losing streak, dropping contests to St. Francis, Big Lake and Becker last week. 

The ‘Cats kept the games against the Saints and Hornets close, losing 45-40 and 46-45, but they couldn’t hang with a tough Becker squad, losing 70-41.

The losses ended their regular season at 2-24, which got the ‘Cats the sixth seed in Section 7AAA. They took on Grand Rapids, the third seed, on Wednesday, February 28 after the Press went to print.

If the ‘Cats were to pull the massive upset, they’d advance to play Cloquet in Cloquet on Saturday, March 1. 

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