Her back-to-back 3s in the final five minutes of play jump-started a 10-0 Chargers run and they held on from there for a 65-59 win in a nonconference girls basketball game.

While Olivia Hammer was key in the win, it didn’t matter to MVL head coach Craig Morgan who among his players had the ball late as long as they took care of it.

“We were just looking for the open shot and everybody passed it to anybody who was open,” he said.

Olivia Hammer found herself open on both 3-point attempts and finished with 12 points, Avery Freier made several big plays in the second half also for the Chargers as she finished with a team-high 19 points. Violet Hammer added 7 points, while Avery Hahn had 6 points and eight rebounds and Taryn Freier had 6 points. The Chargers also got 6 points and 10 rebounds from Ziva Zahrt, who picked up three fouls all in the first half.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Ellie Kaesermann (15) scores on a layup ahead of Springfield defender Olivia Milbrath during the first half of Friday evening’s nonconference girls basketball game at MVL High School.

Springfield was led by Olivia Milbrath’s 20 points and eight rebounds, while Kendall Krueger had 15 points and six rebounds. Jada Reese and Delayna Johnson each added 6 points, while Molly Jacobs had 5 points and seven rebounds and Makay Winkelmann had 5 points and five rebounds.

Both squads had a rough time taking care of the ball in the first half, with an up-tempo approach often leading to an uptick in turnovers on both ends.

MVL committed 29 turnovers in the game, while Springfield had 18.

“We got the steal and then they were just going too fast,” Morgan said. “They’ve got to get used to going that fast. Soon as they get used to going that fast, then it’ll be fast. We’ll get better on that and taking care of it and they don’t have to make that pass right away, they can take it and make it a little bit easier or take the basket.”

Tigers head coach Decker Scheffler said turnovers, missed shots in the paint and struggling to cash in at the foul line have been thorns in his team’s side so far early in the season and Friday evening was no different. The Tigers made 9 of 22 shots from the foul line.

“I think in the first half especially we came out with too many turnovers,” Scheffler said. “We missed way too many bunnies. Missing too many bunnies and free throws has been a problem for us through four games this year. Tonight we were 9 for 22 [at the foul line], and Tuesday night against Cathedral we were 6 for 21.”

The Chargers didn’t fare much better at the free-throw line, making 7 of 21, but they hit 6 of 15 from beyond the arc, while the Tigers were 0 of 7 from the 3-point line.

After trading points throughout the first five minutes of play, Springfield got the first consecutive baskets of the game when Reese and Krueger both scored in the paint to give the Tigers a 13-9 lead, their largest lead of the game.

MVL tied it up after layups from the Hammer sisters and the Chargers took their first lead larger than 2 after a 3 from Taryn Freier put them up 20-17. The Chargers were finally break into a more consistent offense late in the half for a 9-0 run to lead 31-21. The run started with a baseline-driving basket from Tori Ringen and was followed with baskets inside from Zahrt and Violet Hammer. Taryn Freier found her big sister Avery Freier open for a 3 to cap off the run.

The Tigers took the final points of the half, however, when Krueger was left alone inside for a bucket just before the halftime horn, having her team down 33-24 at the break.

The Tigers rode that late bucket to end the first half into the second half, getting an early free throw by Winkelmann and following it up with a steal for a layup by Krueger. Another steal for a layup by Winkelmann and a bucket from Milbrath gave the Tigers a 7-0 run to open the second half and have them down 33-31, promoting Morgan to burn a timeout.

Back-to-back layups from Milbrath tied the game moments later and a free throw from her gave the Tigers a 40-39 lead. The lead was brief after Avery Freier hit a step-back jumper and a 3 to put MVL up 44-40, but the Tigers persisted after a jumper from Krueger and a Milbrath-to-Johnson back-door bucket tied it again. A free throw from Krueger had Springfield up 45-44, but a bucket on the other end by Hahn had MVL in front again, this time 46-45.

A layup by Reese tied it up at 55-all minutes later, but Olivia Hammer’s back-to-back 3s helped kick off the 10-0 run that put the Chargers up 65-55. After her 3s, Zahrt and Taryn Freier each had a free throw and Taryn Freier found Ringen open for a layup to end the run.

Scheffler said while he wasn’t happy to leave without the win, he was happy with how close the end result was against a team like MVL.

“If we turn over the ball as much as we did and miss as many free throws as we did and still only lose to a team of that caliber by 6, I don’t want to say I’ll take that because I don’t like losing, but I’ll take that for the circumstances,” Scheffler said.

MVL (2-1) travels to Sherburn to take on Martin County West on Thursday, while Springfield (3-1) is at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s next on Friday night.