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Knights cruise by Tigers with big 2nd half

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Madison Mathiowetz (3) passes to Morgan Mathiowetz (1) during a Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball game with Springfield on Friday night at St. Mary’s High School.

SLEEPY EYE — While Springfield kept things competitive with Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s in the first half of Friday’s Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball game, turnovers took a toll on the Tigers in the second half as the Knights ran away with an 83-49 win at St. Mary’s High School.

Madison Mathiowetz had a double-double for the Knights with 38 points and 12 rebounds. She also had six assists and six steals, while Allie Labat had 9 points. Also for St. Mary’s, Jenica Schroepfer had 10 points and eight rebounds, Reagan Severson had 7 points, four assists and two steals and Katelyn Rutscher had 11 rebounds and three steals.

Springfield was led by Brooklyn Sturm’s 16-point, 10-rebound double-double, while Madyson Digmann had 9 points and Emma Hauger had 8 points and eight boards. Jasmine Peterson-Novotny added five rebounds for the Tigers.

While the Knights led 38-26 at halftime, there were still things for the Knights to work on in the second half in order to open things up. Madison Mathiowetz said that one of the biggest changes she and her team made between halves was taking better shots.

“We made better shot choices, I think,” she said. “We reversed the ball, played off of each other a little bit better, and I think that made a big difference getting into our shot and rhythm.”

The Tigers started the game out with a 5-2 lead after a bucket inside by Digmann before Madison Mathiowetz hit a jumper and a 3 to put the Knights in front 7-5. Sturm canned a 3 of her own to put the Tigers back in front before the Knights went on a 10-0 run to lead 17-8 and force a Springfield timeout with 12:44 left in the first half.

A Digmann bucket in the paint had the Tigers down just 19-16 moments later, but the Knights got a 7-0 run that was capped on back-to-back buckets by Addie Hoffmann to lead 26-16 and force another Springfield timeout.

Another 3 by Sturm had Springfield down 29-23 with less than five minutes to go in the half, but the Knights ended the half strong on an 8-0 run to lead 38-26 at halftime.

The second half saw the Knights more aggressive on defense, creating turnovers and grabbing easy points in transition.

“In the first half, we did a really nice job of holding our screens and rolling off our screens,” Tigers head coach Mike Kelly said. “We probably weren’t as patient with that in the second half. We got a little jumpy, got a little more nervous, [St. Mary’s] put on a little more pressure and then we left early and didn’t wait for the screens. But we’ll learn that as we go along and as we get more comfortable with the ball. We had a lot of turnovers, and those turnovers turn into points.”

The Knights got a 10-0 run to kick off the second half, with 8 of those points coming from Madison Mathiowetz. After a Springfield timeout, Sturm hit a 3 to stop the Knights’ run and a near five-minute scoring drought for the Tigers to begin the second half.

But the Knights steadily continued to build the lead after that.

Midway through the second half, Madison Mathiowetz had a no-look pass to her seventh-grade sister Morgan Mathiowetz, who then drained a 3 from the corner.

“It’s not a very common thing to get to play with your siblings in any sport,” Madison Mathiowetz said. “I think we’re just super lucky to play together. It’s fun to share this experience with her and try and guide her through the way that I play and help her grow a little bit. Someday she’s going to be in my shoes and she’s going to be playing the same game.”

The final score was the largest lead of the night for St. Mary’s, and it reached that after Schroepfer converted on an and-one with 1.9 left on the clock.

Liz Schwint, a starting forward for the Knights, did not play on Friday due to injury.

The Knights (4-0, 2-0) play Mt. Iron-Buhl at Hopkins on Saturday afternoon, while the Tigers (0-2, 0-2) host Sleepy Eye on Tuesday night.

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