Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor

Not long ago, the girls basketball team was creeping up on the rest of the Suburban East Conference and playing like a group that no one would want to see in the postseason. But after dropping their fourth straight game, the Rangers are threatening their December play where they ended up losing six in a row.

The most recent defeat occurred on Saturday, Feb. 18 at Duluth East (19-6). The Greyhounds were the third consecutive team Forest Lake faced that is battling for first place in its conference, and even though East won 62-51, the Rangers wouldn’t allow the victory to come easy.

Going into intermission the Rangers were down 31-22, but would end the afternoon with a solid second half that saw them in large part staying with the Greyhounds.

A lot of different players got involved in this one, with Andrea Thompson setting the standard on offense with 16 points. Gina Lange was next with 11, while Abi Iverson had eight points and Danielle Boldenow had seven.

The night before going to Duluth, Forest Lake had Totino-Grace (18-5) in town.

Looking through rose-colored glasses at how this game started, the Rangers’ defense was exceptional. The Eagles were limited to just 18 points during the first half of play.

But when those glasses are removed, it shows Forest Lake only scoring nine points.
The offense picked up in the second half for both teams, but the Rangers’ 25 points were not enough to overcome the nine-point deficit as Totino-Grace put in 29 to earn the 47-34 victory.

In a contest of so little scoring, the leader on offense was Anne Berner with eight points, who was followed by Lange and Kelsey Kosman with five points apiece.

The run of first-place opponents began on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at No. 5-ranked Woodbury (20-4, 12-2). With a final score of 40-37 in favor of the Royals, the Rangers let a good one get away.

The first half actually ended with Forest Lake (8-16, 4-10) holding a one-point lead, 17-16. The game would remain close throughout the night, but with 20 seconds remaining, Jess Thone of Woodbury hit two huge free throws to put the Royals up 39-37.

Kosman and Berner were the leading scorers with eight points each, while eight other players were between two and four points.

Before the sections begin next week, the Rangers close out the regular season with a home game against White Bear Lake (14-9, 9-5) on Tuesday, and then yet another difficult road matchup at Park (19-4, 12-3) on Friday.

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