I thought we got them to get out of their zone and go man and we thought we’d be able to handle that. We knew they would come and double the ball and we’ve talked about this, we’ve seen it before this year and it just seemed like we didn’t make that adjustment.”

head coach Stephanie Tolkinen

Park’s tough stretch continued Friday as the Wolfpack dropped their sixth straight game in a 56-45 decision to visiting Woodbury.

Park led 18-16 at intermission after a low-scoring first half. The Wolfpack were up 34-33 with 9:40 to play when the game started to slip away. Woodbury scored six straight points for a 39-24 advantage and held the lead the rest of the way.

Park closed to 45-43 on a 3-point field goal by Tenley Nelson but Woodbury answered right back with a three of its own for a 48-43 lead with 2:51 left. A basket by Park’s Mesa Jameson cut the lead to 50-45 but that was as close as the Wolfpack would get in the final minutes.

Woodbury outscored Park 40-27 after intermission.

“I just told them, like at halftime, well giving up 16 points at halftime is pretty good defensive effort. You can’t complain about that,” said head coach Stephanie Tolkinen. “We scored 18 so it wasn’t the greatest offensive effort either. I thought we got them to get out of their zone and go man and we thought we’d be able to handle that. We knew they would come and double the ball and we’ve talked about this, we’ve seen it before this year and it just seemed like we didn’t make that adjustment.

“I thought the difference in the game was late when little No. 10 (Phaley Yang, 15 points) just was getting to the rack and we just weren’t stopping her. She was going off that screen, we had somebody in the gap, we had help, when you’ve got a shooter in the corner you’ve got to defend. We just weren’t able to stay in front of her. .. And then just executing down here on the offensive end, we just weren’t able to knock down the shots.”

The Wolfpack slipped to 3-6 in the Suburban East Conference and 6-8 on the season. Woodbury went to 4-6 in the SEC and 9-8 overall.

Hailey Kieffer scored 15 points to lead Park. Olivia Czarnota and Graycie Smith had 8 each, while Tenley Nelson and Mesa Jameson each scored 6 points.

Park plays at Mounds View (8-6, 3-6) Friday, then is at Cretin-Derham Hall (9-6, 6-4) on Tuesday, Jan. 28, both games starting at 7 p.m.

Roseville 54, Park 46

Park’s basketball struggles continued Wednesday as the Wolfpack lost at Roseville by a 54-46 score.

It was the fifth straight loss for the Wolfpack after a three-game winning streak in December. Park slipped to 3-5 in the Suburban East Conference and 6-7 on the season. Roseville went to 4-4 in the SEC and 6-8 overall.

Hailey Kieffer and Mesa Jameson each scored 17 points to lead Park. But no one else on the roster managed more than 5 points.