Shay Wilfahrt led the way for the Greyhounds (6-9, 4-6) in the win with a game-high 22 points. The Greyhounds escaped their home floor with a narrow 51-46 win the last time they met Sleepy Eye (9-8, 5-5) on Dec. 5, 2025, giving them a regular-season sweep over Sleepy Eye with Friday’s win.

Turning their attention back to that win on Dec. 5, the Greyhounds’ first of the season.

“I think our whole team kind of focused a lot on defense,” she said. “I know even the first time we played them, not all of our shots were falling, but we wanted to try a couple things different offensively. But the biggest thing was pressuring them on defense and making sure we do take care of their post players. I know [Jaelynn Schauman] is pretty good, they get it in to her a lot, in and out, and then [Taylor] Berkner with the 3, a lot of times we have to be ready to close out on everything.”

Berkner led the way for Sleepy Eye with 15 points and scored effectively inside the paint but was held to 1-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Jace Schauman added 10 points and five steals, while Jaelynn Schauman had 8 points, Destiney Dittbenner had eight rebounds and Alexis Hoffman had six rebounds.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Jayde Altermatt (10) holds the ball in the high post while guarded by Sleepy Eye’s Camryn Maher (2) during Friday night’s Tomahawk Division girls basketball game at Sleepy Eye High School.

“We’re just shooting it poorly,” Sleepy Eye head coach Grant Romberg said. “Defensively, we’re doing what we want to do. We’re holding teams to close to 50 points or under, which I knew we’d need to do because we were going to be lacking some scoring power, but we just are really struggling to get the ball in the hoop. …

“Taylor’s been playing really, really well for us, but her role’s changed and now she’s handling the ball a lot more than she used to last year. Last year she was more of a catch-and-shoot for 3 shooter and she excelled at it. Now her game role’s kind of changed and we’ve just got to try and find a way to get back to where she can catch and shoot.”

The Greyhounds also got 13 points from Jayde Altermatt.

Cathedral started with the lead a minute into the game when Margo Finstad’s bounce pass found a cutting Wilfahrt in the lane for 2. It took a little more than two minutes for another bucket, but Berkner was able to finally answer with a corner 3. Altermatt’s and-one gave the Greyhounds a 5-3 lead back moments later before a runner off the glass by Wilfahrt made it 7-3.

A corner 3 by Altermatt gave the Greyhounds their first double-digit lead of the game, 18-8, but Sleepy Eye cut into that lead and got within 4, 20-16, late in the half. An and-one and jumper by Wilfahrt, followed by a long jumper from Thea Paszkiewicz gave the Greyhounds a 7-0 run to close the half up 27-16.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye’s Alexis Hoffman (22) goes after a loose ball as New Ulm Cathedral’s Ashlyn Hillesheim gets a hand on the ball during the second half of Friday night’s Tomahawk Division girls basketball game at Sleepy Eye High School.

Wilfahrt extended the Greyhounds’ lead to 30-16 with a 3 to open the second half. After a free throw from Berkner, Hoffman put in extra effort to save a loose ball headed out of bounds. After tracking the ball down, Hoffman no-look lobbed the ball back over her head, which was scooped up by Jace Schauman in traffic and then fed to Jaelynn Schauman for a quick bucket to have Sleepy Eye down 30-19.

A pair of Wilfahrt free throws and a bucket inside by Altermatt had the Greyhounds up 15, however, moments later.

Sleepy Eye did what it could to chip away at things, cutting it down to single digits, 40-31, with less than four minutes left after a free throw by Hoffman. But a Sleepy Eye timeout was followed up by Wilfahrt finding Altermatt open with a pass at midcourt, which Altermatt took in and scored on a layup. Jace Schauman buried a 3 to have Sleepy Eye down 42-34, but Paszkiewicz got that 3 back moments later while Wilfahrt added a pair of free throws with 1:50 left to help put things away. Berkner scored a late bucket with seconds left to play for the final score.

Of Wilfahrt’s 22 points, she was 7 of 8 from the free-throw line, continuing her strong stretch of free-throw shooting this season. Over the last three games, Wilfahrt has gone 18 of 21 at the foul line for an 85.7% free-throw percentage.

“We work on them every single practice, multiple times in practice,” Wilfahrt said of the team’s free-throw shooting. “Even Saturdays when we come in, we start with 100 every single time, so that’s obviously helpful focusing on that. And I think the big thing is like coming up with a routine because I kind of changed that, too. I kind of just try new things and whatever works, I keep doing it.”

Sleepy Eye host Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s on Monday in Tomahawk action, while Sleepy Eye is at Lester Prairie for a 5:45 p.m. Tomahawk game Tuesday.