Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Mia Johnson goes up for a layup during Monday night’s game against Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop.

NEW ULM — While Minnesota Valley Lutheran struggled at times on Monday, the Chargers still overcame Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, defeating the Thunderbirds 48-40 in a Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball game.

Ella Schlei led the Chargers offensively with 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Sam Dalueg finished with 8 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals and Mia Johnson had 7 points. Emma Grace Kramer also had 7 points.

The Chargers improved to 10-4 on the season with just four games left on the season. They travel to Springfield on Friday.

GFW dropped to 2-10 overall with the loss. The Thunderbirds were led by Abby Heimkes, who scored 19 points.

A basket by Rylee Woller put the Chargers up 12-8 early with 11:10 left in the first half. Later, they went up 22-16, but a 3-pointer from Heimkes made it 22-19. Back-to-back baskets from Olivia Schwarzrock cut MVL’s lead to 24-23 with 40 seconds left in the first half, which is where it stayed at the break.

The Chargers slowly pulled away in the second half, but the Thunderbirds remained within striking distance the entire time. MVL led 43-40 after a steal and a layup from Kramer with 1:20 left. Later, a pair of free throws from Schlei put MVL up 45-40. Dalueg and Kramer also hit free throw late to seal the win.

MVL also shut down GFW for the final 5 minutes as GFW didn’t score in that stretch. GFW continues action on Thursday at New Ulm Cathedral.