Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Abbie Riederer gets past a Norwood-Young America defender during the first half of the Chargers Section 2AA playoff game Monday at MVL.

NEW ULM — Norwood-Young America, the No. 5 seed in the Section 2AA playoffs, defeated No. 4 Minnesota Valley Lutheran 70-61. The loss ends MVL’s season at 20-7.

Maddie Pearson led the Chargers with 18 points, five rebounds and three steals. Emma Nelson scored 17 points and had 20 rebounds and Naomi Anderson finished with 12 points. Abby Nelson grabbed 10 rebounds.

Allison Fritz led the Raiders (10-17) with 17 points. Emma Conser scored 16 points and Kassie Herrmann also scored 16. The Raiders will meet No. 1 seed Belle Plaine at 6 p.m. on Friday in New Prague in the semifinals.

Tied at 23-23 at halftime, the Raiders managed to outscore the Chargers despite being outrebounded in the game. Fritz led the way in the second half for the Raiders, scoring the first 12 points in for them. The second half was a back-and-forth battle early on as the lead changed 13 times in the second half alone.

Down 38-34, Pearson hit a 3-pointer for the Chargers to cut the deficit to 38-37. The Chargers eventually took a 42-41 lead on a basket from Emma Nelson with 11:26 left and Abby Nelson gave her team a 48-45 lead with 8:58 left in the game.

The Raiders went on a 9-0 run, thanks to a 3-pointer by Conser that put them ahead 54-48. However, the Chargers went on a 6-0 run to tie the game, which would be the last time the Chargers tied the game.

A 7-1 run put the Raiders ahead 61-55. A late Pearson 3 made it 65-61, but free throws finished the game for the final 70-61 score.