Against a Cedar Mountain team that entered Monday’s nonconference girls basketball game against MVL with just three losses this season, the Hammer sisters had season highs in points to lead the Chargers to a 70-62 win.

Olivia Hammer led the Chargers (12-9) with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Violet Hammer had 17 points and four rebounds.

“Our team, we’ve already played three games [last] week and we have three more [this week], and we just keep fighting,” Olivia Hammer said. “No matter what, I feel like we’re all really tired, but we just keep pushing through and just forget that we’re tired and just play for each other.”

With Violet Hammer making the jump into the varsity lineup this season, she’s been happy to share the court with her big sister. On Monday, she was also able to share the glory.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Olivia Hammer shoots a free throw late in Monday’s nonconference girls basketball game against Cedar Mountain at MVL.

“It’s super fun because I get to play with my sister and be at the same level as her,” Violet Hammer said. “It’s super fun.”

Avery Freier had 18 points and four assists for MVL, while Ziva Zahrt had 11 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

The Hammers had the final 4 points of the night at the foul line to give the Chargers their double-digit win, staving off a Cougars (17-4) team that saw Aubrey Steffl hit two three consecutive 3s to keep her team in it.

With efforts that far exceed her size, the 5-6 Steffl hit another milestone this season as she became just the second player in Cedar Mountain history to pass 1,000 career rebounds.

Steffl needed just three rebounds on Monday to hit 1,000 for her career and she finished with seven rebounds to get to 1,004 for her career. She also had a game-high 24 points, three assists and four steals.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Cedar Mountain’s Aubrey Steffl tracks down a rebound during the first half of a nonconference girls basketball game at Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School. Steffl passed 1,000 rebounds for her career during the game.

While the Cougars continued to hang around, they didn’t get the same balance they’re used to seeing as Kendra Lueck was the only other player to hit double figures for them as she finished with 17 points and four rebounds. Kendra Erickson added 8 points and four assists, while Marley Wildt had 6 points.

“Kind of a poor shooting night all around for us,” Cedar Mountain head coach Brook Christensen said. “Kendra had one three I think for us tonight, which she’s usually averaging three or four a game for us. Grace [Hamre] didn’t hit her shots like normal. Sometimes you just can’t overcome bad shooting nights. When you get yourself into a hole, like we did early, and playing from behind, we’d go on a spurt and get some nice runs and then all the sudden it’d be 6 points and then turn around and be like 12 a half minute later.

“[MVL] played well, they were prepared for us. I don’t know if we were quite ready to play tonight. Monday games aren’t always fun. We’ll keep working. We won’t let one game define us, we’ve got a lot of season left, so we’ll see how it goes.”

A Steffl bucket gave the Cougars an early 6-3 lead, but Zahrt scored inside to kick off a 9-0 MVL run to lead 12-6. Violet Hammer had a pair of free throws after Zahrt’s bucket, while Avery Freier hit a 3 and Violet Hammer had a jumper to complete the run and force a Cougars timeout with 14:26 still to play in the half.

A steal for a layup by Violet Hammer moments later gave the Chargers a 16-8 lead. The Cougars got within 3, 21-18, after Steffl grabbed her 1,000th career rebound, an offensive one. After the rebound, she drove to the hoop and drew a shooting foul that saw her hit one of two free throws. Another Cougars free throw, this time by Lueck, cut the deficit to 21-19.

But Olivia Hammer drained a 3 that sparked a 9-1 Charger run. She also ended the run with a layup for a 30-20 lead. Cedar Mountain cut the deficit back down to 4, but MVL ended the half on a 7-0 run to lead 37-26, the largest lead of the half.

MVL’s run extended to 10-0 in the second half after Olivia Hammer hit another 3 for a 40-26 lead, the largest lead of the night. Cedar Mountain cut its deficit to 44-37 after a Steffl layup, but Violet Hammer buried a 3 to make it a double-digit game again.

The Cougars never got closer from there out until Steffl hit her third of three consecutive 3s to have her team down 65-58. Freier answered that 3 with her fourth 3-pointer of the night to make it 68-58. Kendal Atkins scored on the other end, but Olivia Hammer and Violet Hammer each sank a pair of free throws in the final 30 seconds to put things away.

“They usually come out and hit a lot of shots and I feel like they didn’t make as many as they usually do, which that’s good for us,” Olivia Hammer said. “But I still feel like they’re a really strong team. Aubrey, Kendra, they’re really good.”

Violet Hammer added that the win over Cedar Mountain proved something.

“I think it gives our team a lot of confidence to know that we can actually beat good teams,” Violet Hammer said.

MVL is at Le Sueur-Henderson for a South Central Conference game on Tuesday night, while Cedar Mountain is at Wabasso for a Tomahawk Division game Tuesday night.