Staff photo by Ari Selvey Nicollet’s Zoie Rengstorf shoots a 3-pointer during a Section 2A Girls Basketball Tournament game against Cleveland Monday at Nicollet High School.

NICOLLET — Nicollet was overwhelming both on defense and from the 3-point line as the No. 4 Raiders topped No. 13 Cleveland 63-46 in the first round of the Section 2A Girls Basketball tournament on Monday.

“We preach defense every day and spend a lot of time on that,” Nicollet head coach Dustin Wright said. “Probably a lot more time than offense. We know Cleveland has some good players, 10 [Brooke Bosse] 21 [Emma Kortuem] and 3 [Taylor McCabe], so we emphasized those three players all weekend, trying to make it hard on those three and limit their opportunities, and overall I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”

Nicollet held the Clippers to just 18 points in the first half while scoring 36 of their own.

“During practice, we really worked on defense and playing as a team, Nicollet’s Zoie Rengstorf said. “Trying to get hype in the beginning and come out strong.”

Rengstorf led all scorers with 23 points, including six 3-pointers, along with three assists and three steals.

“It really boosts my confidence [when shots fall], and I think it really brings my teammates up too,” Rengstorf said.

Also for the Raiders, Jazmyn Goettlicher had 15 points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals, while Chloe Kachelmeier had 9 points and three steals. As a team, Nicollet made eight 3-point shots and shot well overall from the floor, allowing the team to get into its press defense that forced quick turnovers for even more easy offense.

“When shots are going in, it allows us to get into our press,” Wright said. “Then our full-court pressure leads into what we do. Making shots just makes it easier to get into our full-court defense which makes us be able to play the game we want to play.”

Nicollet (20-7) advances to play fifth-seeded Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey on Thursday at St. Peter High School at 7:45 p.m., but may have to do so without the help of Goettlicher, who suffered a leg injury late into the game.

Nicollet started off the game with a 7-0 lead, courtesy of layups from Cheyenne Klockziem and Goettlicher and free throws from Goettlicher and Rengstorf. Cleveland fought back to a 7-5 game, but Nicollet kept going with layups from Klockziem and Megan Soost as Cleveland called a timeout. A 3 from Kachelmeier made it a 14-7 game, and another 3 from Goettlicher pushed the lead to 17-7. Cleveland came back with 3s from Emma Kortuem and Brooke Bosse, but Rengstorf put up two more 3s to keep Nicollet in the lead 23-14. Nicollet used Rengstorf’s second 3 to kickstart a 14-0 run, closed out with a driving layup from Goettlicher, to make it a 34-14 game. Bosse was able to cut the lead to 36-19 with a 3 before halftime.

A 6-2 Cleveland run made it a 38-24 game after the break, but Nicollet responded with a 6-0 run of its own, with Rengstorf making two layups, to push the lead to 44-24. Cleveland got 5 points from a Bosse 3 and a layup from Kortuem, but the Raiders responded with a 7-2 run, with Rengstorf adding another 3, for a 51-31 lead. Rengstorf’s final 3 of the game gave Nicollet its largest lead, 61-39, before subs entered to close out the game.

Wright said the team will have to continue the intensity on defense to make a run in the playoffs.

“Just like we talked about with the girls, in the playoff basketball, every possession matters,” he said. “We can’t have a lapse of a defensive assignment or a minute where we don’t play hard. Every possession as hard as you can go and locked in on doing your job.”