It took the Wolfpack four games to figure it out, but Park found the secret to success Friday night against visiting Cretin-Derham Hall.

Play a full game. After struggling to put together two good halves in the first four games, Park dominated the opening half Friday, rolling to a 30-18 lead at the break and didn’t let up in the second half for a 48-39 win over the visiting Raiders.

“We actually played two halves,” said Henderson. “We came out with a lot of energy in the first half and that helped us a lot and we actually played as a team. We ran the offense and we communicated and we just we together the whole time.”

“It’s just something that they have to figure out,” said Park head coach Stephanie Tolkinen. “AT Roseville, we didn’t compete in the first half and we challenged their low effort and coachability and they came out second half and we beat them 33 to 19. Tonight, and after practice on Wednesday, we really have been working on competing, forcing them to communicate, working a little more together figuring things out with each other and just being more disciplined and staying with the game plan a little bit more and look what happens.”

Sydnee Nelson’s 17 and Tori Henderson’s 14 points paced the Park offense, but Park also got a needed 9 points from senior Morgan Leick coming off the bench.

“I thought we did a really good job of picking our teammates up,” said Leick. “We had a lot of fouls but our teammates came in when we needed them. And I thought we did a great job slipping and showing the weaknesses in their defense and being coachable as well. The biggest thing was just starting the first half better. That’s what we needed to do. That was our main focus.”

Nelson scored 11 points in the first half and Henderson had seven to lead the Wolfpack, who put together one of their best halves of the season.

Park improved to 1-3 in the Suburban East Conference and 1-4 on the season. Cretin-Derham Hall slipped to 1-3 in the SEC and 2-5 overall.

“They didn’t change anything tonight really that they did on defense,” Tolkinen added. “We adapted to it and we made some really nice plays out of it. The kids felt confident about that and it was really nice to see that we didn’t have to throw up a ton of threes tonight and the kids could trust the offense and let it work and it did.”

Park hosts Bloomington Jefferson (4-3) Thursday evening, Dec. 22, in a non-conference contest.

Roseville 58, Park 47

Park continued to have problems putting the ball in the basket in a cold first half and dropped a 58-47 road decision at Roseville Tuesday night.

Roseville led 39-14 at the break. The Wolfpack turned the tables on the hosts in the second half, outscoring the Raiders 33-19, but it was a classic case of too little, too late.

Tori Henderson scored 15 points, Sydnee Nelson 10 and Morgan Leick nine for Park.

Park fell to 0-3 in the Suburban East Conference and 0-4 on the season. Roseville boosted its record to 1=2 in the SEC and 3-2 overall.

Park’s Sydnee Nelson has her guard up against a Cretin-Derham Hall opponent. Photo by John Molene