Staff photo by Jeff Meder New Ulm Cathedral’s Shay Wilfahrt leaps to contest a shot against Cleveland’s Lacey McCabe during a Section 2A Girls Basketball Tournament game at Cathedral High School.

By Jeff Meder

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM — No. 7-seeded New Ulm Cathedral defeated No. 10-seeded Cleveland 62-40 on Thursday in the first round of the Section 2A, North Subsection Girls Basketball Tournament.

The Greyhounds had four players score in double figures. Margo Finstad, Ava Krueger and Shay Wilfahrt each scored 14 points, while Jenna Hotovec had 10 points and Maddie Gilles scored 7 points. Olivia Macho added 3 points for Cathedral.

“It was a good team effort,” Cathedral head coach Dave Wilfahrt said. “It’s a game of runs, and you have to sustain the run.”

The Greyhounds played well as a team. They rebounded, played solid defense and scored those runs at key times throughout the contest. A full-court press was a tool that they used to take hold of and keep the momentum throughout the game.

“It was nice that some other girls stepped up,” Coach Wilfahrt said.

He credited his team for being patient during the times when Cleveland tried its own press to get back into the game.

Cathedral opened the game with a 12-0 run. Cleveland responded with a 4-0 run, but Cathedral answered with another run, outscoring the Clippers 8-0.

Late in the first half, the Clippers’ Lacey McCabe scored on a layup. Gilles answered for the Greyhounds when she nailed a wide-open 3. Two plays later, Krueger canned a 3 just as the buzzer sounded to end the first half. The score was 37-16 for Cathedral at halftime.

Hotovec continued the Greyhounds’ momentum into the second half when she grabbed a rebound off a missed Clipper shot, going coast-to-coast for a layup and a 41-18 Greyhounds lead.

Cathedral widened its lead to 45-22 when Shay Wilfahrt passed the ball to Gilles, who relayed the ball to Krueger, who scored on a layup. Several plays later, Hotovec’s rebound led her to toss an overhand pass to Krueger for a layup.

Krueger got a second-chance basket midway through the second half which resulted in a 30-point Cathedral lead of 55-25.

Addi Holden led Cleveland with 12 points.

Cleveland tried to full-court press, but it abandoned it. It also rebounded better in the second half and kept trying to mount a comeback. Cathedral stuck to its game plan to earn the victory.

Cathedral (13-14) will face No. 1-seeded Sleepy Eye (23-3) in Sleepy Eye on Monday.