Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart’s Jamie Novotny goes up for a shot inside while surrounded by Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Emma Grace Kramer (24), Kaylee Hunter (2) and Ella Schlei (back-left) in a Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball game at MVL High School on Monday.

NEW ULM — Physical, fast and balanced play for Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart helped lead the Mustangs to a big conference win on the road Monday.

With three players in double figures, the Mustangs held off Minnesota Valley Lutheran 49-42 at MVL High School in a Tomahawk Conference girls’ basketball game.

Madalynn Wulkan led the Mustangs (18-5, 12-3) with 17 points, while Emilie Hable had 15 points and seven rebounds and Rachel Kottke had 10 points and eight rebounds.

MVL (20-5, 13-2) was led by Abbie Riederer’s 18 points and six rebounds, while Mia Johnson had 9 points and four rebounds and Ella Schlei had 5 points and six boards. Kaylee Hunter added 5 points and three steals for MVL, while Sam Dalueg had five assists.

After Riederer picked up her fourth foul with 10:55 left to play, Chargers head coach Rollin Timm was forced to pull his top scorer from the game with a 32-29 deficit. After Riederer headed to the bench, Wulkan knocked down back-to-back corner 3s and then drove the baseline for a layup and a 40-29 Mustangs lead.

Riederer returned to the court with 6:15 left to play and eventually cut MVL’s deficit to 42-38 after back-to-back layups and later 43-40 after a bucket inside. Dalueg was also in foul trouble for MVL, and she eventually fouled out with 1:29 left.

MVL trailed 45-42 after a jumper by Riederer, but the Chargers turned the ball over twice in the final minute, with the first turnover ending up a free throw for Allison Dornseif and the second ending with a bucket in the paint by Wulkan to seal the game.

The win gave BLHS a little redemption after MVL beat the Mustangs 64-61 in Hector on Jan. 13.

Wulkan said that this win over the Chargers showed the team’s continued improvement.

“It just shows that through every practice — and it doesn’t matter where we are in the season — we continue to work hard and work on new things,” Wulkan said. “We always go hard in practice and put what we practice into the game, and I think that that’s what gives us our drive. We don’t just settle. We’re constantly trying to get better.”

Wulkan also said that her team’s energy was high all game and that the team adjusted well to MVL’s physicality.

“This game was definitely a very physical game, more than we’re used to,” Wulkan said. “I think once we saw that a lot of things that we’re used to getting called weren’t getting called, then we stepped up the intensity and I think that was an advantage to us.

“If we wouldn’t have had that, then we would have just kept losing the ball, turning the ball over and giving them more opportunities to score. On a player like Riederer, we definitely turned up the intensity and had to get out on her, otherwise she’d keep making her 3s on us.”

The first half saw the Mustangs jump out to a 12-4 lead after a 3 by Kristi Kottke, but the Chargers got a corner 3 from Johnson, a putback basket by Dalueg and a steal and layup by Riederer to trail 12-11. BLHS tacked on a free throw by Hable to take a 2-point lead before MVL tied it at 13-all on a bucket inside by Schlei.

The Mustangs took a 24-16 lead late in the half after free throws by Rachel Kottke. The Chargers got a pair of 3s by Riederer in the closing minutes of the half, with a BLHS bucket from Hable sandwiched in between, and BLHS led 26-22 at halftime.

Timm credited BLHS after the game and said that playing too tense and not covering shooters enough were his squad’s biggest issues in the loss.

“[BLHS is] a very good team,” Timm said. “And they were playing a little bit faster than we were and they were more relaxed than we were. We seemed to be tense the whole game. We were forcing things and pushing too hard when we should be relaxing and playing the game of basketball. That and the fact that we weren’t always getting back on defense to cover the shooters were the two big issues that I had.”

While Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s defeated New Ulm Cathedral on Monday to remain unbeaten in conference play and clinch the conference title, the Chargers will still look to end their regular season on a high note when they travel to St. Mary’s on Thursday night.

The Chargers fell to St. Mary’s 82-60 on Jan. 25 at home.

BLHS is at Kerkhoven for a nonconference game on Thursday night.