Mustangs hand MVL 1st loss in Tomahawk
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NEW ULM -- Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart's hot shooting in the first half was enough to hand Minnesota Valley Lutheran its first Tomahawk Conference girls' basketball loss of the season on Tuesday night as the Mustangs won 85-65 at MVL High School.
Sara Kottke led the Mustangs (14-3, 8-3) with 20 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, while Allison Milbrandt scored 20 points. Also for BLHS, Lily Dean had 14 points, Maddy Wulkan added 13 points and Rachel Kottke had 9 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
"I definitely think it is [a momentum boost], especially with playoffs coming around the corner," Sara Kottke said. "I was telling my coach that I've been playing varsity since seventh grade and I don't think I've ever beaten MVL. So it's kind of a nice feeling for me, too."
MVL (15-3, 10-1) was led by Emma Nelson, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Abbie Riederer, who had 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Also for MVL, Naomi Anderson had 10 points and six rebounds, Kaylee Hunter had 8 points and Maddie Pearson had eight assists.
After Riederer scored a bucket inside to put MVL ahead 2-0, the Chargers didn't expect that to be the last time they'd hold a lead all game. But BLHS tied it up right after and hit shots early and often to take a 12-4 lead. In those first 12 BLHS points, five different players scored for the Mustangs, with a 3 each by Kristi Kottke and Allison Dornseif leading the way.
MVL struggled to hit shots the remainder of the half as BLHS got three consecutive buckets in the paint from Sara Kottke and a 3 by Dean to push the Mustangs' lead to 34-11. An and-one by Milbrandt gave BLHS its largest lead of the night, 43-17.
BLHS led 52-30 at the half.
BLHS hit 12 3-pointers against MVL, with the majority of those 3s coming early in the first half.
Sara Kottke said that the early success at the 3-point line and adjusting on defense in the second half was key in the win.
"I think this year we've been a big 3-point shooting team," she said. "And I think that shows in games. Obviously during the second half we struggled, but this game I think we really adjusted to not shooting well. Then we were able to drive in, and that's been a key I think since we're such a young team. It's really nice to see us being able to move the ball and make smart decisions when our shooting may be off."
MVL cut its deficit down to 17, 72-55, late in the second half after a 3 by Nelson and a layup by Riederer, but that was the closest the Chargers got from there out.
MVL head coach Rollin Timm said that he was proud of his team's effort and improvement in the second half, but the first-half struggles were too much against a tough BLHS squad.
"We were not finishing shots, we had a lot of nice shots in that first half that we missed, really nice shots that we missed, and they [the Mustangs] were making a lot of shots and some of them banking in 3-pointers, then you know you're battling an up-hill night," Timm said. "They're a very good team, they've got eight, nine girls that can run at you and kind of wear us down a little bit, but I thought our girls did a nice job in the second half of battling back, they never gave up."
BLHS hosts Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg on Thursday night, while the Chargers are at Sleepy Eye on Thursday night.