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Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor
When the girls basketball team lost so convincingly to White Bear Lake on Jan. 8, there were reasons to be a little concerned about a Forest Lake squad that had just dropped its third straight game.
The Rangers were whipped by the Bears, 74-52, and coming up on Friday night was a 9-5 Roseville team.
“White Bear Lake (8-7, 3-3) came into the game with more fire and intensity and we did not match that,” Forest Lake head coach Jen Wagner admitted after the home loss. “Bottom line, we got out-worked and out-hustled, and that was probably the most disappointing aspect I saw to that game.”
Even for how poorly the Rangers were executing, they were not without opportunities.
Post players Annie Berner and Gina Lange accidentally padded their rebounding stats, as the two juniors were controlling the offensive glass but their shots wouldn’t fall.
Forest Lake was down 40-26 at the half, and then the same pattern basically repeated itself after the break.
Missed shots and turnovers tormented the Rangers, while the Bears were getting open looks and converting their attempts.
Midway through the second half, Forest Lake was down by 21, but made a brief run where it looked like they might get back in it. After pulling to within 13, however, the Rangers reverted back to their sloppy play, and White Bear used a 15-8 surge to go up 67-47.
Thank you and good night.
And now the Raiders were due to arrive in three days, but this time Forest Lake played like a group that opened the season with a 7-0 record.
“After suffering a tough loss on Tuesday to White Bear Lake, the girls basketball team responded with an outstanding win against Roseville, 54 to 51,” Wagner said.
In Tuesday’s setback, Berner was tops for the Rangers, going for 22 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots. She would have more help in the Roseville victory, as Molly Steele was the leading scorer with 19 points.
Lange punched in with another double-double, finishing with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, while Berner completed the three-pronged attack with 11 points.
Adri Acosta and Audrey Mills may have totaled all of seven points between them, but Wagner was quick to applaud their performances.
The Suburban East Conference battle was still in question after the final buzzer, when Roseville drained a three-point shot in hopes of sending the game into an extra session.
“After reviewing the tape many times, the buzzer sounded, then the Roseville player shot,” Wagner stated.
The victory put the Rangers at 10-4 overall and 4-2 in the SEC.
With Woodbury and Stillwater on this week’s agenda, Forest Lake will turn the corner and head down the second half of its schedule.
“All of the teams we have coming up are beatable,” Wagner said. “(We) just have to play our game and not get out-worked.
“The kids understand that our Tuesday game versus White Bear Lake was a big-time letdown, and it is not going to happen again.”
BOX SCORE
Roseville 21 30 - 51
Forest Lake 25 29 - 54
Roseville - Stewart 10, Florian 16, Burch 4, Smith 7, Starr 6, Nesbit 8.
Forest Lake - Steele 19, Berner 11, Mills 2, Lange 17, Acosta 5.
Fouled out - Burch, Kolnberger. Free throws - Rose 18-24, FL 17-29. Three-pointers - Rose 1, FL 3.
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