GFW wins low-scoring battle
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NEW ULM -- It may have been the lowest-scoring outing of the season for Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, but it got the job done anyway with a 43-29 win over Minnesota Valley Lutheran in Tomahawk Conference girls' basketball action on Tuesday night.
The Thunderbirds (11-4, 7-1) were led by Emily Heimkes with 14 points and Maddy Elder with 11 points and seven rebounds. Also for GFW, Miah Busse added 9 points and Katelynn Firle led all rebounders with 11 boards.
Rebounding was something GFW took advantage of on the night and it led to several extra trips to the foul line and second looks at the hoop as a result.
"That's one thing we do really well with most games [rebounding]," Firle said. "We definitely weren't expecting them to play that hard and we kind of underestimated them, so we came in a little slower than we should have. But I think we took over."
MVL (7-8, 3-5) surprised GFW out of the gate, taking a 7-3 lead early on after a corner 3 by Maddie Spurgin, who ended the night with 5 points. Busse knocked down back-to-back 3s on the next two GFW possessions, though, to give her squad the 9-7 lead.
Maddie Pearson sank a 3 to give MVL the lead back, 15-14, with a little less than six minutes to go in the half. But after a GFW bucket inside and a 3 each by Grace Swenson and Heimkes, the Thunderbirds took the lead back, 22-15.
Haley Birkholz later knocked down a pair of 3s to bring MVL back within striking distance and the Chargers trailed by just 4, 25-21, at the break. Birkholz led the Chargers with 11 points.
MVL started the second half out nicely with an and-one by Sarah Dinse to bring the deficit to 25-24. Dinse ended with 5 points for MVL.
GFW had other plans in mind, however, going on a 7-0 run after the and-one to lead 32-24. A jumper by Spurgin with a little more than six minutes to play in the game was the final bucket for the Chargers, who ended the second half scoring 8 points.
MVL seemed hesitant to shoot the ball in the second half and paid for it as a result.
"We were hesitant in our shooting -- and because of that -- we weren't shooting confidently," MVL coach Rollin Timm said. "I think the biggest thing was that we didn't have a whole lot of energy tonight. It kind of showed as far as how we played. Even when we were close, we weren't playing with a lot of energy. And we need to do that when we play a good team."
Abby Nelson led MVL on the boards with seven rebounds.
The Chargers host Springfield at 7:30 p.m. Friday in conference action, while the Thunderbirds also have a conference game when they host Cedar Mountain/Comfrey at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in Fairfax.