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Following an opening game loss to Mankato West, the New Ulm Eagle girls' basketball team has been on a roll.
They have won 10 straight games, including a 92-55 win over Worthington on Dec. 18, when they set the school record for points in a game.
Their closest game came Friday in a 64-62 win over Fridley in the Mound-Westonka Invitational.
At 10-1, they are the fourth highest scoring girls' basketball team in Class AAA in Minnesota with a 68.7 average, trailing only St.Paul Como Park (76.3), Becker (73.5) and Waconia who scores an average of 69.5 points a game.
And the Eagles can also play solid defense as they are 10th in the state with an average points allowed per game at 43.
Their margin of victory each game is 25.7, which is third in the state.
"Defense is our strength, "New Ulm head coach Brian Batt said. "We have had games where we have forced 30 turnovers in a game -- our points per game allowed is low because we do generate a lot of turnovers and get the easy baskets."
While the New Ulm defense is solid, so is the Eagles' offense. Led by senior Joey Batt's 30.8 points per game, she has been helped by senior Iyanna Wieland's 10.9 ppg average and Ellie Bute's 9.3 ppg.
"I would like to see a couple of more people step up and get us some double-figure games," Coach Batt said. "We have Joey, Iyanna and Ellie. We want to get our post players some touches for more shot opportunities for more points in the paint so we can open up the perimeter a little bit and get some more 3-point shots. We have a lot of good 3-point shooters. That will make our half-court offense a little easier because we are built to run and run and run. We want to get points off of transition and steals. But you cannot do that the entire game."
Bute leads with 66 steals and averages 6.6 steals per game.
From beyond the arc, Joey Batt has sank 29 of 60 while Bute has converted 28 of 76.
For Joey Batt, who now has a career point total of 1,959, she now needs 41 points to break the 2,000 career-point total and then 54 more to shatter Galen Holzhueter's All-Time City career scoring mark of 2,053 set in 2010.
"Teams have tried to double team her, but she is so fast that most teams do not do that. They try man defense and do not have much luck so then they go into a zone, "Batt said. "Against Worthington, we hit 15 3-point shots."
Coach Batt said that he has been very happy with the improvement of both Bute and Wieland.
"Ellie has become a lot more consistent scoring-wise and Iyanna continues to get better," Coach Batt said. "Last year (Iyanna) was around 9 points a game. She has gotten better at going to the floor and has gotten better as a rebounder (5.2 per game). Her and Olivia Wick (5.5 per game) are our leading rebounders."
Coach Batt also thought that while Hannah Osborne does not score a lot (3.9 ppg), she does get a lot of steals (3.4 spg) and deflections.
The Eagles are off now until Jan. 8, 2019, when they have a huge home game against Waseca in a Big South Conference-East and Section 2, AAA game. Waseca is 9-1 overall and New Ulm is 10-1 overall. The Eagles are 3-0 in the conference, while the Bluejays are 2-0.
"It is a conference and section game." Coach Batt said. "That is going to be the biggest game of the season. We played Mankato West in our first game of the season and shot poorly. This is a huge game that will set the tone for the rest of the season. We should be well-rested and Waseca plays West the Saturday before they play us. We should be at full strength for the game."