NEW ULM — The Belle Plaine girls’ basketball team used a 23-12 run late in the game to erase a 53-51 New Ulm lead as the Tigers survived a great effort by the Eagles for a 74-65 win in a nonconference game Monday night.

Sarah Lenz led Belle Plaine (18-2) with 18 points.

Kirsten Dennis paced New Ulm (8-11) with a game-high 24 points including six, 3-pointers. Hannah Osborne added 17 points along with seven assists and five steals. Olivia Wick grabbed six rebounds and blocked four shots. Noelle Forstner hauled down five rebounds.

“We executed our game plan really well,” New Ulm coach Brian Batt said. “They have a couple of really good shooters.”

As did New Ulm as Dennis kept the Eagles in the game in the first half as she canned five shots from beyond the arc in the first 18 minutes. Dennis scored 19 of New Ulm’s 31 first half points.

“She is a fantastic shooter,” Batt said about Dennis. “She is a sophomore who is running the show in her first year here.”

Belle Plaine shut down Dennis to only five points in the second half.

The Eagles had battled back to tie the game in the second half at 43-43 on baskets from Bryn Nesvold and two Osborne free throws and would take a 53-51 lead on a Daviney Dreckman basket before the Tigers slowly pulled away.

“I told the girls that if we continue to play like this the rest of the season we will be in every game,” Batt said.