Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Kaylee Hunter (2) grabs a rebound away from Taylor Haas (5) of Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Thursday at MVL.

NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Lutheran held off a first-half scare from Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop as the Chargers downed the Thunderbirds 66-51 on Thursday in Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball action.

It was the 10th consecutive win for MVL.

The game had two distinct personalities, with the first half being very close and the second half seeing the Chargers hold off — and pull away from — GFW for the win.

“It was our best game of being competitive from start to finish,” GFW head coach Richard Busse said.

Busse was pleased with guard Taylor Haas. She scored 6 points and had six rebounds.

Busse said Haas did a good job of defending Abbie Riederer.

Haas made two identical reverse layups in the game. She dribbled around an MVL defender and threw the ball into the basket. Her second one cut MVL’s lead to 34-33 early in the second half.

Moments later, Busse hit a 3-pointer. Emma Nelson answered with an inside basket and two free throws. Riederer hit a 3, Maddie Pearson added a 3 and Pearson’s pass to Riederer resulted in a layup which capped off a 12-0 MVL run for a 50-36 lead.

Busse’s 3-pointer brought GFW within 6 points at 52-46 in the latter part of the second half. Riederer and Pearson scored inside baskets and Riederer scored a fast-break layup on a pass from Kaylee Hunter. Riederer weaved through the GFW defense and scored on a layup.

During the first half, there were seven lead changes and two ties. Abby Heimkes scored 14 points for GFW in the first half. She finished the contest with 16 points.

Busse led the Thunderbirds with 23 points in the game.

Heimkes regained the lead for the Thunderbirds on 3-point shot late in the first half. Riederer’s basket regained MVL’s lead for the half and the game, making it 30-29 MVL at halftime.

“It was a tough game,” MVL head coach Rollin Timm said. “They pushed us, (they) played hard and scrappy. It’s nice to come out on top of that.”

Timm credited GFW’s offense for shooting well from the outside. He said MVL settled down and responded with some good shots of its own.

Emma Nelson led MVL with 23 points and nine rebounds. Abby Nelson added 11 rebounds with six assists. Pearson had 8 points and 12 assists.

“(The 12 assists) by Pearson was awesome,” Timm said.

MVL (15-2, 10-0) will host Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart on Tuesday. GFW (4-12, 4-7) will travel to LeSueur-Henderson on Monday.