1999/2000 Game Results Last Updated: December 11, 1999

December 10, 1999  

North 49, Memorial 49

Robinson picks perfect time to get healthy

Senior guard helps Huskies weather late storm

By Steve Beaudry
Leader-Telegram staff

Nicki Robinson has spent the past 13 months diligently searching for good fortune beneath a pile of ice packs and splints and athletic tape and crutches and hot water bottles and Ace bandages.

Nicki Robinson

A torturous spate of injuries -- a hyperextended right knee, a strained right calf muscle, a stress fracture in her left ankle, shin splints in both legs, a slipped disc in her back, a strained right rotator cuff and a deep thigh bruise -- hindered the Eau Claire North senior’s progress in all three of her varsity sports.

"This week, for the first time in what seems like forever, I can actually say I feel healthy -- knock on wood," Robinson said and, to be safe, superstitiously rapped her knuckles on the Eagles Nest’s wooden bleachers Friday night.

"It feels awesome," she added, smiling.

Nicki Robinson goes up for shot Leader-Telegram Photo

Robinson earned plenty of reason to smile after helping the Huskies earn a pulse-fluttering 49-46 Big Rivers Conference basketball victory over Eau Claire Memorial.

The 5-foot-8 point guard hit what proved to be the winning basket -- an artful, 17-foot fallaway jumper from the left wing -- after grabbing the rebound from her own missed free throw with 1 minute, 5 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Robinson also drew two fouls in the final 7 seconds and iced North’s victory at the free-throw line.

The win earned the Huskies (2-0, 4-1) a tie with Hudson and Chippewa Falls atop the Big Rivers standings.

"I was pleased with our effort," Memorial coach Steve Smith said, "but (the Huskies) earned this win because they didn’t beat themselves. Even though we fought back well in the second half, they didn’t give us anything for free.

"Did they have any turnovers at all?"

Actually, they did. But not many. Due in large part to the poised play of Robinson and backcourt mate Scooter Aspen, North had just three first-half turnovers en route to building a 35-25 intermission lead. For the game, Memorial (1-1, 4-1) had 18 turnovers to the Huskies’ nine.

Lindsey Rongstad on Defense Leader-Telegram Photo

"Not turning the ball over is what Sip stresses above all else," Robinson said, referring to first-year North head coach Dan Sippel. "He puts time on the clock in our practices, and if we have more than X amount of turnovers in that time, he makes us run laps. We hate running laps."

Robinson entered Friday’s game averaging a team-high 15 points per game this season. But, with Memorial guard Joanna Leafblad playing Ziploc-tight defense on her, Robinson converted just two of eight field-goal tries.

With her touch as flat as an anvil in the first half, Robinson ditched her shot and instead continually fed the ball inside to junior forwards Kricket Whyte and Larissa Parr.

Kricket Whyte

"We wanted this win bad," said Whyte, who scored a career-high 13 points.

"Yeah," added Parr, who scored 12 points and had a team-high seven rebounds. "We wanted to win this for Sip -- to get him off to a good start."

After the teams traded the lead three times in the first quarter, North took control with a 10-0 second-quarter spurt spurred by four points each from Robinson and Aspen. During that stretch, Old Abes senior point guard Bekka Lundquist was whistled for her third foul and went to the bench for the last 4½ minutes of the first half.

But North’s once-plush 13-point cushion shriveled into a thread late in the third quarter, as Memorial sophomore forwards Bekah Howard and Molly Menard took control of the offensive boards.

The Abes took a 46-45 lead on a strong drive by senior forward Greta Fiedler with 3:21 left in the fourth quarter. Robinson, though, stepped up down the stretch. She finished with eight points.

Leafblad scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the first half.

"To win a Big Rivers road game is huge," Sippel said. "Every win in this conference this year is a huge win. It’s going to be a knock-down, drag-out race to the title."

EAU CLAIRE NORTH (49)

FG-A FT-A TP: Scooter Aspen 0-2 4-4 4, Nicki Robinson 2-9 4-9 8, Lindsey Rongstad 3-7 0-0 6, Kricket Whyte 3-5 7-8 13, Larissa Parr 5-14 2-3 12, Andrea Thorsness 0-2 0-0 0, Anne Connell 1-2 0-0 2, Beth Hoenisch 1-4 1-2 4. Totals 15-45 18-26 49.

EAU CLAIRE MEMORIAL (46)

Bekka Lundquist 1-7 0-0 2, Joanna Leafblad 5-15 5-6 18, Greta Fiedler 2-5 0-0 4, Becca Carstensen 3-6 2-2 8, Amanda Buchholz 2-4 0-2 4, Molly Menard 0-3 4-5 4, Bekah Howard 1-1 2-4 4, Carrie Bohlig 0-1 0-0 0, Melissa Kaiser 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 15-43 13-19 46.

Eau Claire Memorial 11 14 11 10 -- 46

3-point goals: North 1-6 (Hoenisch 1-3, Parr 0-1, Robinson 0-1, Connell 0-1), Memorial 3-10 (Leafblad 3-9, Lundquist 0-1). Rebounds: North 29 (Parr 7, Whyte 5), Memorial 39 (Howard 8, Fiedler 7). Fouls: North 19, Memorial 21. Fouled out: Memorial, Buchholz. Turnovers: North 9, Memorial 18.

RECORDS: North 2-0, 4-1; Memorial 1-1, 4-1.