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BLHS earns 1st conference win

Staff photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm Cathedral’s Rose Hazuka takes a shot during the first half against Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart Friday at CHS. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

NEW ULM– A strong second-half effort was not enough as Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart defeated New Ulm Cathedral 62-58 in a Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball game Friday night.

BLHS’ first five points came from free throw shooting from Sara Kottke in the first minutes of the game. Kottke led the Mustangs with 18 points in the first half.

“Defensively we came flat all around during the first half,” Cathedral’s Nicole Gangelhoff said. “We stayed in man coverage the second half and we started to move our feet more.”

At 10:48 left in the first half, Gangelhoff forced a steal just across the half-court line and took the ball down for the two points. Gangelhoff’s shot brought the Greyhounds within two points, as they failed to regain defensive control in the first half.

BLHS (4-20, 1-15) widened the gap to 24-15 at the halfway point in the first half, before taking a 39-17 lead at the break. Gangelhoff tallied seven points in the first half with a game total of 17 to lead the Greyhounds.

Cathedral (7-18, 4-12) went on a 12-2 point run in the first three minutes of the second half assisted by strong offensive play from the Greyhounds. Rose Hazuka tallied a deep 3-pointer to assist in the shooting spree bringing Cathedral’s deficit to 41-29.

Cathedral’s second half effort was credited with some strong defensive play across the entire court.

“We need to keep playing hard and find the holes in the defense, if we keep shooting something will fall,” McKenna Berdan said. “We talked in the locker room that we needed to execute and play our game.”

With 3:32 left to play, the Greyhounds brought the game within four, tallying a 20-12 point run. Mekenna Berdan’s 3-point shooting brought the game back within reach for the Greyhounds.

Cathedral’s Becca Schwarz intercepted a pass just across the half-court line and was able to muscle the ball away from the BLHS point guard before she hit Hazuka with a pass. Hazuka continued the play by netting a deep 3 with 12.6 seconds left and the Greyhounds now trailing 60-58.

“Becca had a clutch steal and credit Rose for the three,” Berdan said.

Gangelhoff added that Hazuka’s late 3-point shooting was the momentum they needed.

BLHS completed the inbound pass and Cathedral was forced to foul and stop the clock with nine seconds left.

Kottke dropped both free throws to end the comeback effort for Cathedral.

Hazuka scored 15 points for Cathedral and Berdan ended with eight.

For BLHS, Kottke led with 23 points and 25 rebounds, Alaina Leske netted 14 points with nine rebounds and Keegan Hanson tallied 14 points.

Cathedral will host Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial at 7 p.m. on Monday.

BLHS will host Central Minnesota Christian at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

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