I think all-in-all the rest of the game our girls battled the whole way, we gave us a chance, we stayed in the game, we were there and then I just think the rebounding part and then our offense, we just stalled too many times.”

Park head coach Stephanie Tolkinen

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Park (2-10, 3-16) plays at winless Irondale (0-11, 0-17) Thursday, Feb. 1.

For the third straight game, things got away from Park in the second half.

Host Burnsville outscored Park 31-16 in the second half to win a non-conference matchup at Burnsville Saturday afternoon 60-40.

Saturday’s game repeated a bad pattern for the Wolfpack this week. Against Mounds View on Tuesday, Park was tied at the half, but lost by six. Against Cretin-Derham Hall, Park trailed by just two at the half but ended up losing by 17.

Tori Henderson scored 17 points for Park Saturday but was the only Wolfpack player to reach double figures. Mesa Jamison had 9 points and Raimee Ashfaq 6.

Park (2-10, 3-16) plays at winless Irondale (0-11, 0-17) Thursday, Feb. 1.

Cretin-Derham Hall 63, Park 46

For the first half and a bit of the second, host Park was matching visiting Cretin-Derham Hall point for point and defense for defense.

Then it all went away as the visiting Raiders waltzed home with a 63-46 win in Suburban East Conference girls basketball Friday.

Park trailed 31-29 at the half, and just 38-36 with 12:38 to play in the game, and then, little by little, the bottom fell out for the Wolfpack.

Cretin went from a two-point lead to a 47-39 lead with 6:22 to play, then stretched it to 53-41 and finally 63-46. The Riders outscored Park 17-3 at one point in the second half to win going away. Park simply couldn’t buy a bucket for most of the second half. Meanwhile the Raiders got their inside game going and dominated the final 10 minutes.

“The second half we came, out, and I thought the energy was good, but we just didn’t box out, “ said Park head coach Stephanie Tolkinen. “Their points in the second half were second chance points and then 34 (Suraya Hodges, who led Cretin with 20 points) starts having a game. And Olivia Czarnota, I’ll give her a ton of credit, she did a great job on the post for two thirds of the game and then I just think she started wearing out. She started standing up, going for fakes a little bit and then they were just quicker in their action and we were having a tough time defending that.

“That’s the story,” Tolkinen continued. “I think all-in-all the rest of the game our girls battled the whole way, we gave us a chance, we stayed in the game, we were there and then I just think the rebounding part and then our offense, we just stalled too many times. The kids weren’t reversing the ball, moving the ball in our offense the way we wanted them to and we just weren’t getting the looks that we need to and having some turnovers and just kind of crumbled the last eight minutes.”

Cretin’s inside game hurt Park offensively, especially in the second half. On the other side of the court, the Raiders’ full-court press gave Park problems and created turnovers which turned into easy Cretin baskets.

Cretin improved to 5-7 in the conference and 7-10 overall.

Tori Henderson’s 14 points led Park, but only three of those points came in the second half. Hailey Kieffer scored 12 and Olivia Czarnota 8.

Mounds View 55, Park 49

Visiting Mounds View broke away from a 27-all tie at the half to down host Park 55-49 in Suburban East Conference basketball Wednesday night.

Mounds View (6-5, 9-7) outscored Park 28-22 in the second half to claim the win.

Mesa Jamison scored 15 points to lead Park. Hailey Kieffer had 11 and Olivia Czarnota 10.