File photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm’s Iyanna Wieland drives to the basket during an Eagles home game earlier this season.

NEW ULM — The New Ulm girls were able to hold off a late rally by Faribault to win 59-54 on Saturday afternoon in nonconference girls’ basketball action.

The Eagles improved to 9-3 on the year with the victory and were led by Joey Batt, who scored 27 points. New Ulm was also led by an 8-point effort from Iyanna Wieland and 7 points each from Hannah Osborne and Morgan Eikanger.

After Faribault knocked down a 3 to make the score 50-40 with 4:15 left to play, the Falcons chose to burn a timeout. Wieland knocked down a 3 right after the timeout, though, to put the Eagles back up by 13.

The Falcons went on a late run, however, and cut the deficit to 55-51 with 1:01 remaining. Faribault’s Abby Van Ryn knocked down two 3s during the run and converted on an and-one.

Van Ryn finished the game with 21 points.

After a New Ulm timeout, Batt drove down the court and got a layup to fall, bumping the Eagles up to a 57-51 advantage. Batt then stole the ball and was fouled by Van Ryn, who picked up her fifth and final foul on the play.

Batt knocked down both free throws, but the Falcons weren’t going away quietly. Rachel Hanson knocked down another Falcons’ 3 to cut the deficit to 59-54 with 30.1 seconds remaining.

But Batt collected another key steal on a bad pass and was able to dribble the clock out.

New Ulm coach Brian Batt said that despite the win, his girls need to learn to play more consistent.

“We get in some funks where we just kind of throw the ball away,” coach Batt said. “It seems like every game we play really well for stretches, then we decide to take a break. And that’s what really needs to go away. We just have to be more consistent in offense and defense.

“There are teams that are peaks and valleys within a week or a month, we’re every game,” coach Batt said. “Peaks and valleys. We need to handle the ball better against pressure.”

The Eagles started the game out nicely with a 13-5 lead after back-to-back 3s by Batt. A 3 by Ellie Bute and a bucket inside by Osborne gave the Eagles an 18-8 lead.

Evy Vettrus knocked down a 3-pointer to trim the Faribault deficit to 5, 22-17, with less than five minutes to play in the half. New Ulm led 28-17 at the break.

The second half started out with cold shooting by both squads until Batt knocked down a 3 to give the Eagles a 33-19 lead. An Osborne 3 from the corner put New Ulm up 38-26 with less than 11 minutes to go.

With less than eight minutes to play, Bute knocked down another 3 to give the Eagles their largest lead of the game, 46-31. Minutes after the 3 is when the Falcons went on their run that came up short in the end.

Coach Batt also said that Faribault is a physical team and that he was glad to see his squad handle that aspect of the game.

New Ulm travels to Waseca for a 7:30 p.m. game Tuesday.