Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Sleepy Eye’s Brianna Polesky takes a shot over Cedar Moutain/COmfrey’s Taylor Rose (32) during the first half Friday in Morgan. For more photos of this event go to cu.nujournal.com

MORGAN — Sleepy Eye knew it was going to be a battle heading into Morgan to take on Cedar Mountain/Comfrey on Friday night, but the Indians did just enough down the stretch to pull away with a 62-51 Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball win.

“We expected a battle,” Sleepy Eye coach Ryan Hulke said. “You don’t come to Cedar Mountain without a battle. They shoot well here, they play well here, they have a great crowd and it makes it a hostile environment, which makes it all the more fun to get out of here with the win.”

The Indians (16-4, 10-2) were led by Madi Heiderscheidt with 20 points and five steals. Madison Krueger scored 12 points for Sleepy Eye, while Brianna Polesky added 11 points and three steals and Sarah Ibarra had 8 points and nine rebounds.

Mya Ibberson had a solid all-around night for the Indians with 7 points, five boards and four blocks.

The game was closer than the final score indicated, with CM/C (12-6, 6-6) trailing 50-47 with less than five minutes to play. Sleepy Eye connected on several key free throws down the stretch, however, and led 56-49 after a pair of Heiderscheidt free throws with 59.3 seconds to go.

Erica Bock got a basket to drop to cut the CM/C deficit to 5, but Heiderscheidt sank another pair of free throws to put the Indians up 58-51 with 38.6 seconds left. With CM/C being forced to foul late, Sleepy Eye was able to push their point total up even more before the final horn.

“Free throws were huge,” Hulke said. “We were 22 of 32 and they were 7 of 10, so we made 15 more free throws — that’s a huge difference.”

CM/C’s biggest lead came early in the first half after a 3 by Abby Jemmings made the score 13-10 in favor of the Cougars. Sleepy Eye went on a 9-0 run that was capped off by back-to-back buckets from Ibarra to lead 22-15 before the Cougars were able to break up the run with a 3 by Jemmings and a bucket inside by Taylor Rose.

Krueger and Polesky knocked down back-to-back 3s shortly after the bucket from Rose, though, to give Sleepy Eye a 28-20 advantage. After trailing by 8, CM/C was able to cut the deficit down to 3 but trailed 38-34 at the half.

Back-to-back 3s by Jemmings gave the Cougars a 44-43 lead with 9:45 left to play in the game. The lead was brief, however, as McKenzie Cselovszki put one in inside to give Sleepy Eye the lead back on the next Indians’ possession.

From there on out, the Indians were able to manage the clock and slowly pull away from the Cougars.

CM/C coach Mike Kelly remained proud of his team for the fight they showed against a tough conference team. And considering the last time these two squads met was a 20-point win for Sleepy Eye, the Cougars were much improved.

“The first half was high scoring, then the second half was more defense-oriented and the pace had slowed down,” Kelly said. “I was just very happy our kids were able to adjust to both things in the first and second half. I’m very happy with the way they played because Sleepy Eye, they’re a very good basketball team. They’re well coached, they do a lot of things very well.”

Jemmings led the Cougars with 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Rose added 16 points. Lexi Toll had 6 points and 11 boards, while Bock had 6 points, five rebounds and four assists and Jordan Kevelin added five assists for CM/C.

Sleepy Eye is at New Ulm Cathedral on Monday, while CM/C hosts Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Monday.