NEW ULM — It was not a pretty win but it was a win nonetheless.

The New Ulm High School girls’ basketball team forced 34 Faribault turnovers and went on to win 72-64 over the Falcons Saturday afternoon in a nonconference basketball game.

Kirsten Dennis paced New Ulm (8-10) with 21 points and five steals. Also for New Ulm, Hannah Osborne finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds and Nora Windschill hauled down five rebounds.

Zoe Frank led Faribault (0-19) with a game-high 22 points.

While the Eagles forced those 34 turnovers, they were guilty of 24 turnovers in the game themselves.

It was a game where the Eagles, who host Belle Plaine on Monday, looked like they were going to cruise as they jumped to a fast 16-4 lead, with Osborne hitting two 3-pointers and Bryn Nesvold canning a 3. Dennis’ basket off of the 10th Faribault turnover had the Eagles seemingly on cruise control.

But Faribault managed to climb back into the game and cut the lead to 22-15 on two Maryn Hart free throws.

“I think in the first half our girls were getting frustrated — the calls were not going our way. We have to learn to deal with that. It happens,” Batt said as New Ulm was whistled for 14 fouls in a first half that saw them carry a 33-23 halftime lead when Daviney Dreckman turned the 23rd Faribault turnover into that 10-point halftime lead.

New Ulm was guilty of 15 turnovers in the first half.

The Eagles increased their lead to 39-23, scoring all 6 points directly or indirectly off of Faribault turnovers as Nesvold canned two free throws, while Osborne and Noelle Forstner sank baskets for that 16-point lead.

Fairbault hung around and pulled to within 66-57 with just over a minute left in the game.

“Before the game I emphasized that we need to push tempo,” Batt said. “Towards the end of the game when we needed to slow down, we were still in that 100 mile-an-hour mode. That led to turnovers and let them sneak back into the game.”

Batt said that his team’s turnovers have been a consistent problem all season.

“Our point guard (Dennis) is a 10th-grader and we have an eighth-grader (Dreckman) who is handling the ball a lot,” he said. “And we have another 10th-grader (Miranda Suess) that comes off of the bench. They are trying hard. They will get there.”