Eagles clip Trojans behind strong defensive effort
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NEW ULM -- New Ulm forced 29 Worthington turnovers as the Eagles downed the Trojans 76-59 Thursday night in a Big South Conference girls basketball game.
Brooklyn Lewis led the Eagles (9-3, 4-1) with a 24 points. Morgan Hulke added 16 points for New Ulm, while Daviney Dreckman ended with 15 and Kenzie Enter contributed 10 points.
Lewis also added five assists, along with five rebounds and five steals. Hulke and Enter each had three steals with Enter adding four assists. Hulke also hauled down six rebounds.
Tarren Spartz led Worthington (2-8, 0-3) with 24 points.
"I thought that our kids played tough tonight," New Ulm head coach Julie Rogers said. "Defense is the thing that is continuing to help us win games. We mixed it up tonight -- we ran some zone and man -- and we handled the height differential quite well."
And that defense keyed the Eagles in that first half as New Ulm made just 6 of 17 shots from beyond the arc.
But it was their defense that kept them in the game as they forced 18 Worthington turnovers in that first half and scored 14 points off of them.
"We want to convert off of turnovers all of the time," Rogers said. "We are not going to make every basket, but we need to shoot a basket every time down."
Leading 28-26 late in the first half the Eagles used baskets from Ramsey Hopp. Brooklyn Lewis and a 3-ball from Morgan Hulke for a 38-30 lead at half.
New Ulm built that lead early in the second half to 49-32 thanks to 3s from Lewis and Enter and then held a 53-39 lead on two free throws from Dreckman.
But Worthington cut the lead at 49-39 that gave Rogers some concern.
"I was feeling a little nervous, but Maddie Backer drove in and that caused their defense to collapse inside," Rogers said.
The Trojans would again cut into the New Ulm lead at 57-51, but a Lewis basket sparked a 12-0 run aided by 3s from Enter and Hulke that moved New Ulm to 69-51 lead late in the game.
"We were ahead for all of the game, but it never felt like it was a done deal," Rogers said. "We are not quite halfway through the season now. I am happy where we are, but there are a lot of things that we need to fine-tune and work on in order to be a top-tier team."
New Ulm travels to take on Kasson-Mantorville in an 11:45 a.m. game Saturday.