After seeing a 24-point lead chiseled down to 3 late, the Chargers held off the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers 66-61 in a nonconference girls basketball game.

Following a 10-0 run in the second half to put the Chargers (4-2) up 50-26, turnovers started to pile up on them. One reason for that was due to their junior Olivia Hammer leaving the game with an injury in the final 10 minutes.

She hit the first 3 of the game for the Chargers, the first MVL bucket of the second half on a 3 and helped guide her team’s second-half 10-0 run. After being subbed out to ice her left knee, she never returned to the game as the Bucs (0-8) started to mount their comeback with takeaways and an effective full-court press.

“You put some people in situations that they haven’t been in before, Olivia’s been in that stuff before,” Chargers head coach Craig Morgan said. “We have to learn and we have to react to it. I think the girls reacted well, but Olivia’s the type of player that’s got the experience and knows what to do in those situations, which would have made it easier, and I don’t think [BEA] would have got as [close].”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Avery Hahn goes up for a shot in front of Blue Earth Area defender Emerson Weir (1) during the first half of Monday’s nonconference girls basketball game at MVL High School.

Olivia Hammer finished the game with 13 points and five rebounds. Avery Freier led the Chargers with 14 points and five steals, while Ziva Zahrt had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Avery Hahn had 10 points and nine rebounds. Violet Hammer added 8 points and six rebounds, while Taryn Freier led MVL in assists with three.

BEA was led by Myla Eastman and Ella Swanson’s 16 points apiece, while Lola Lundquist had 15 points and Madelyn Humburg had 11 points.

While the Chargers never trailed in the game, the Bucs stuck with them in the first half thanks to drawing fouls, cashing in at the foul line and capitalizing on MVL turnovers. MVL worked the ball inside to success in the first half to stay in front.

Later in the half, the Chargers got a steal for a layup by Violet Hammer, another 3 from Olivia Hammer and a bucket inside by Zahrt for a 7-0 run and 29-17 lead.

The Bucs got a 3 from Eastman out of BEA timeout, but Avery Freier hit her second 3 of the half to answer and send the Chargers into halftime with a 32-20 lead.

After BEA got on the board to open the second half with a layup from Lundquist, Olivia Hammer cashed in on a 3 before Taryn Freier shoveled a pass to her big sister, Avery Freier, who canned her third 3 of the night for a 38-22 lead.

A 3 by Swanson had BEA down 40-26 moments later, but MVL started its 10-0 run with a free throw from Violet Hammer. Olivia Hammer and Violet Hammer then had back-to-back layups, Avery Freier hit her fourth and final 3 of the night and Tori Ringen scored inside to complete the run and put MVL up 50-26.

“I thought we moved the ball well, we looked and we saw the open person, which was great,” Morgan said. “I’m happy with our defense in that first half and even coming out of halftime, it’s just once we got that lead … We’ve got to learn not to give up. Relax.”

As Olivia Hammer headed to the athletic training table, the Bucs started a 9-0 run to trail 50-35, forcing Morgan to burn a timeout with eight minutes to play. The Chargers held on to a double-digit lead until free throws from Lundquist had BEA down 60-52 with 3:03 left in the game.

Turnovers continued to pile up on the Chargers in the closing minutes, allowing the Bucs to cut the deficit to 64-59 following a stolen pass at halfcourt and fast-break layup from Eastman with 16 seconds to play.

Following a pair of missed double-bonus free throws from Zahrt, Eastman was fouled and sank two double-bonus free throws to make it a 64-61 game. MVL broke a press in the closing 10 seconds, however, and Zahrt was able to make for her late misses at the foul line with a short jumper off an assist from Hahn to beat the buzzer.

With turnovers still being the biggest Achilles’ heel for MVL early in the season, Morgan said the team will continue to work on cleaning things up.

“We’re just going to keep working on it,” Morgan said. “They’ll make good decisions and learn to make better decisions, because you can see what they did. Those turnovers brought [BEA] back into the game. Same with Cathedral [last Friday]. We’re going to learn from it and get better at it.”

MVL will host the Sibley East Wolverines in a South Central Conference game at 7 p.m. on Thursday night.