Staff photo by Steve Muscatello Madison Mathiowetz (3) of Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s scored her 2,000 career point on this basket over Olivia Schwarzrock of Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop during the first half Thursday at SESM.

SLEEPY EYE — With 4:19 left in the first half of Thursday night’s Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball game against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Madison Mathiowetz scored on a bucket in the paint to reach 2,000 career points.

Mathiowetz had a brief celebration with teammates and coaches as the fans in attendance showed their respect, but Mathiowetz knew there was more work to be done yet as the Knights held a slim 23-20 lead. Up 31-27 at the half, the Knights had a stronger second half and cruised to a 68-38 win.

“Coming into that game, the most important thing that we wanted to do was to get the win,” Mathiowetz said. “Throughout the whole game, even after I reached that 2,000 mark, we came back in the huddle and said, ‘Let’s win this game.’ GFW, they were rotating really well, they were being really patient on offense and they played a really great first half, and we did not play our best first half. So once we came out in that second half, we just found our groove a little bit more. Our 2-3 zone really pushed us ahead there, so that was a really good change for us, too.”

Mathiowetz needed 15 points to reach 2,000 career points and ended the game with 33 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists, three steals and two blocks. Sydney Windschitl also had 21 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Knights.

Brynn Busse led the Thunderbirds with 13 points, while Olivia Schwarzrock added 10 points and Morgan Aylsworth added 9.

Busse canned a 3 to start GFW with a 3-0 lead, but the Knights quickly answered and took a 6-5 lead after a contested jumper in the paint and a steal and layup by Mathiowetz. The Knights started a 7-0 run midway through the opening half to lead 17-9, but GFW got 3 by Aylsworth and a 3 and a pair of free throws by Schwarzrock to complete a 7-0 run of its own and trail 17-16.

After a bucket by Mathiowetz had the Knights up 21-18, Schwarzrock answered inside on the other end before Mathiowetz scored her milestone bucket.

“I knew it would probably happen this game, but I didn’t know when,” Mathiowetz said of her 2,000th career point. “It was fun, the game stopped and then I knew that, ‘Yeah, all right, I got it.’ So that was pretty exciting. Hugging your teammates — they’re the ones that help you get there — and they’re just the best teammates.”

Back-to-back 3s and a jumper in the paint by Mathiowetz opened the second half before a bucket by Busse ended the Knights’ 8-0 run. The Knights steadily continued to build their lead from there out, however, pushing the pace and creating turnovers along the way.

A steal and bucket in the paint by Allie Labat gave the Knights their largest lead of the night and final score.

GFW (0-2, 0-2) is at Springfield on Tuesday. St. Mary’s (3-0, 3-0) hosts Minnesota Valley Lutheran on Tuesday.