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NORTH BRANCH BOYS

Streaking season continued for the North Branch boys basketball program last week.

They have won and lost in long streaks, and after the roller coaster of a ride, they now stand at 8-8 on the year. The Vikings began the season 4-0 before losing seven straight games. They proceeded to rattle off four straight wins after that, with two of them coming last week.

North Branch 92, Princeton 88

The Tigers had been the Kings of the Mississippi 8 Conference for over a half decade, but that reign has come crashing to a halt this year as NB beat Princeton on Tuesday, January 16 to keep them winless on the year at 0-13. 

The Vikings were almost Princeton’s first victim of the year, as the game went into overtime, but North Branch prevailed in the extra session. Princeton had the lead at halftime at 43-42, as they got nice offensive output from Cash Pettit, Harrison Lupkes, Noah Stencel and Blain Sternquist. 

But, North Branch built a pretty healthy lead in the second half, leading by nine at one point before the Tigers made their late game comeback. Tyler Minke and Brody Beaver led much of the offensive onslaught with their lethal three point range, but Noah Thorsen hit three big three pointers as well, Owen Link made some key plays and baskets, and Evan Overson produced another double-double for the Vikings. 

In overtime, the pace was slow, but North Branch made the most of the opportunities, outscoring Princeton 10-6 to wrap up the home victory.

Beaver had a game high 25 points to go with five assists and four steals. Minke had 23 points, Overson had 15 points and 10 boards, Thorsen had 14 points and Link added 13 points and two steals.

North Branch 62, Monticello 52

The Vikings took on another team in the midst of a tough year, the 3-11 Monticello Magic, on Thursday, January 18.

Minke was again the focal point for a North Branch offense that didn’t play as wide open as they did against Princeton. The junior guard hit four three pointers and had 28 points on the night. Beaver chipped in 16 points, Thorsen had seven and although Overson only scored five from the post, the senior had 14 boards to help NB control the second chance points.

Spectrum 61, North Branch 56

The Vikings are hoping their most recent loss isn’t the start of another extended skid.

The Vikes, who were playing their third game in five days, dropped a tough loss to the 11-2 Spectrum Sting.

The Elk River-based prep school got a great second half from star Blake Femrite, and they pulled away from the Vikings in their match up on Saturday, January 20.

The Vikings didn’t have their normal depth scoring, with Beaver and Minke combining to score 42 of NB’s 56 points. Despite that, North Branch held a halftime edge at 27-26, but in the second half, Femrite scored 20 of his 33 points and propelled the Sting to the five point victory.

He ended the game with 33 points, just a week after scoring his 1,000th career point and breaking Spectrum’s single game scoring mark with 39 in a game against Eagle Ridge Academy.

North Branch had a tough stretch coming up, with two home games the rest of January, and then none until the end of February. They hosted St. Francis earlier this week before traveling up to Grand Rapids on Saturday, January 27. The Vikes then will host Big Lake on Tuesday, January 30 before a stretch of six straight Mississippi 8 Conference road games.

CHISAGO LAKES BOYS

The Wildcats kept their hot streak going, winning two games last week and CL has now won five of their last six games to move to 10-4 on the year.

Chisago Lakes beat Zimmerman 87-61 in a blowout  Tuesday, January 16 and then followed that up with a close win over St. Francis on Thursday, January 18, needing a second half surge for the comeback victory.

Senior Patrick Rowe had a near triple double against the Thunder, scoring 25 points to go with 10 assists and eight rebounds. Junior Zander Schmidt scored 23 for the ‘Cats and Luke O’Malley added 12.

Against the Saints, Rowe again had a massive game, scoring 33 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. Schmidt and Ben Paulesen combined for 27 points in supporting roles and Blake Siefert added nine.

The ‘Cats got a unique experience earlier in the week, playing a Mississippi 8 Conference game against Big Lake in the Target Center in Minneapolis on Tuesday, January 23.

After that, the ‘Cats will be on the road for three straight against Becker, Monticello and Duluth Denfeld.

CHISAGO LAKES GIRLS

The Chisago Lakes girls’ basketball season has continued to march on despite the losses piling up for the Wildcats.

They acquired three more losses last week to send their record to 1-14 on the year. They fell to Zimmerman, St. Francis and Big Lake in three Mississippi 8 Conference tilts.

Zimmerman 79, Chisago Lakes 52

The ‘Cats got nice games from Addyson Barrett and Annika Hall, as they each scored 13 points, but they just couldn’t shut down Zimmernan’s offense at all when the teams played Tuesday, January 16. The Thunder got 25 points from Pessly Haas, 12 each from Maddie Seaver and Olivia Glidden and eight each from Emma Becker and Cheyenne Christie.

 Chisago Lakes was down 46-30 at the break and never was able to mount a serious threat in the second half. Senior Eva Aldrich had nine points and five boards and Luciana Asleson had 10 rebounds for CL.

St. Francis 65, Chisago Lakes 33

The Saints hammered the Wildcats in both halves as they ran away with a 32 point win, nearly doubling up CL in their M8C tussle on Thursday, January 18.

Nobody for Chisago Lakes was able to reach the double figure mark, with Abby Sufka leading the ‘Cats with seven points and six boards. Claire Beaver and Aldrich had six points each, but CL remained winless in the Mississippi 8 with the 65-33 loss.

Big Lake 58, Chisago Lakes 47

The Wildcats played their best game of the week, giving Big Lake a run for their money on Friday, January 19. 

Chisago Lakes was only down by two at halftime, but a nine point cushion after the break still gave the Hornets a 58-47 victory.

Hall had 10 points for the ‘Cats, Aldrich had nine, as did Barrett. Beaver chipped in seven points and Kayla Larsen had five points and eight rebounds.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Wildcats coming up, either. They take on Becker, the class of the Mississippi 8 for the last decade, on Thursday, January 25. The next day, the girls host Rock Ridge, and the upstart Wolverines are 15-2 on the year. Early next week, CL travels to Monticello to take on the 15-1 Magic on Tuesday, January 30.    

NORTH BRANCH GIRLS

After winning two of three games the prior week, the North Branch girls basketball team was hoping to keep the momentum rolling with three contests in the past week. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep it up, dropping all three contests, including two in the Mississippi 8 Conference.

Princeton 77, North Branch 64

The Vikings started out the week promising. They used some of the Dan Schindler-era lockdown defense to keep Princeton at bay in the first half, and actually led 33-28 at the break when the two teams clashed on Tuesday, January 16.

But, the Tigers found a way through that defense in the second half, and by the sound of the final buzzer, Princeton wrapped up a double digit win after out-scoring NB 49-31 in the second half.

Kayla Diedrich had a great game for the Vikings, scoring 27 points to go along with seven rebounds and three steals. Ella Kuhlman also had a strong game, but some turnovers were costly for the junior at times. She ended up with 20 points, eight rebounds, six steals and five assists but also had eight of NB’s 22 turnovers against Princeton’s pressure defense.

Jo Bartkey added nine points for the Vikings, but Princeton had four girls in double digits, highlighted by Sadie Meyer’s 24 points, which was supplemented by Lillian Tidrick’s 16, Willa Waytashek’s 15 and Kyleigh Noble’s 13 points.

Monticello 61, North Branch 43

If not for a tough shooting night for stars Diedrich and Kuhlman, the Vikings may have been looking at an upset of the 14-1 Magic on Thursday, January 18 at North Branch’s home gym.

The two teams were deadlocked at the break despite the shooting woes in the first half, but Monticello started to make a bit more of their shots in the second half and eventually pulled away for an 18 points win.

Diedrich and Kuhlman, who have been aces on offense all year, combined to shoot just eight-of-29. Kuhlman, however, made her buckets count by going five-of-eight from beyond the arc and still scoring 20 points. Diedrich and Bartkey were the Vikings’ next highest scorers at six points each.

Braham 55, North Branch 40

The Vikings stepped out of conference to take on the Braham Bombers on Monday, January 22 and the small school powerhouse beat NB at home.

The Bombers, who have a long, storied history, got off to a nice start and kept adding on to their lead throughout the night, never allowing the Vikings to threaten too much. The Vikings had another tough shooting night, going just three-of-16 from deep, and those misses contributed to some easy Braham baskets on the other end.

Kuhlman had 17 points for NB and Diedrich had 10 points and nine boards. Katelynn Lattimore had a nice night, scoring eight points to go along with seven rebounds.

The Vikings’ upcoming schedule is an eclectic mix after already taking on small school Braham. The Vikes hosted M8C foe St. Francis earlier this week, but then will take on another small school non-conference opponent in Little Falls on Thursday, January 25. They’ll finish out their week with a section trip to Cloquet on Saturday, January 27 to take on the Lumberjacks in a matinee match up at 1 p.m.

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