Posted: 3/3/04

Girls basketball heads into section play

Joe Drennan
Sports Editor

Seniors night is the last time senior players will play on their home court, so most teams try to make it memorable for their seniors and win. Visiting Mounds View wasnít about to let the Forest Lake High School girls basketball team have their way with them though.

In the first quarter, Mounds View held the Rangers to only four points, while they scored 12 of their own. When the two teams headed to the locker room for halftime, Mounds View was leading 26-14. The Rangers tried to battle their way back into the game, but Mounds View outscored the Rangers 30-20. When the final seconds ticked off the clock, Mounds View had won the game 56-34.

Seniors who scored were Brianna McMahon who had four points and Courtney Mettling and Cassandra Okimosh who both had two points. Sophomore Renee Frericks led the Rangers with nine points, followed by junior Katie Anderson who had six points.

ìThe sections were pretty much set so we decided to play a lot of kids and we let our seniors play on senior night,î Rangers head coach Jack Bender said. ìWe also allowed our younger kids to play to see who wants to be involved next year.î

The Rangers ran into another stingy opponent Friday night when they played Woodbury. Things were looking good for the Rangers after the first quarter when they were leading 10-9. Woodbury came out firing in the second quarter, outscoring the Rangers 24-6. Woodbury continued their domination of the Rangers in the second half by scoring 34 points and only allowing 15 Rangers points.

Frericks did her part in the game for the Rangers as she scored 17 points, followed by Laura McMahonís four points.

ìShe really had a fantastic game,î Bender said of Frericks. ìI really thought she was special that night.î
The Rangers played North St. Paul Wednesday night in section 4AAAA play.

ìAt the beginning of the year we were hoping that things would work out so that we would be playing North St. Paul,î Bender said. ìThey may be better than us at every spot, but when you havenít played a team and have scouted them you just hope that you can do something they havenít seen. If itís a close game I really think weíll beat them.î

The game was played after the paper went to print. A recap of the game will be in next weeks paper.

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