NEW ULM — Brooklyn Sturm had a triple-double as the Springfield Tigers defeated the Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers 63-42 in a Tomahawk Conference girls basketball game Friday night at MVL High School. He recorded two assists, which he didn’t reach.
Sturm led the Tigers with 28 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, four blocks, and four steals. Despite the dominant play, three other Tigers scored in double figures on the night, with Jasmine Novotny, Jada Reese and Emma Hauger each adding 10 points.
Hauger also had eight rebounds and three assists, Novotny had seven boards and Marissa Pabst had six rebounds and five assists.
“The good thing is, I had a lot of assists tonight, so that was good.” Springfield head coach Mike Kelly said. “I chatted with them a little bit and said, ‘Let’s move the ball a little bit and guys are going to get open,’ and we passed the ball pretty well there.” So we passed the ball pretty well tonight. I think I did. And we didn’t have a lot of turnovers, but we had 25 turnovers per game, I think it was probably around 15. ”
The Chargers were led by Olivia Hammer with 11 points, three blocks and three steals, Avery Hopp with nine points and 11 rebounds, Marley Schauer with eight points and six rebounds, Mackenzie Marses with five points and 12 rebounds, and Kerrigan Blau. Added 6 points.
MVL head coach Haley Santos praised Springfield’s offensive prowess for the victory.
“I admire Springfield’s ability to run the floor and see the floor.” MVL head coach Haley Santos said. “There’s a very strong connection between Sturm and Pabst, who run the floor. It’s hard because it’s inconsistent and they sneak up on you, and we talked about it, and the girls knew it well, but at the moment of the game, just a mental swoon, we couldn’t go back and find the opponent very quickly, and Springfield was able to take advantage of it. I made it.”
After Pabst found Reese inside on a fast break for a bucket, the Tigers jumped out to a 20-point lead at 24-4. After Hopp’s free throw, Hauger knocked down a jumper and Pabst scored inside to give the Tigers a 28-5 advantage.
However, the Chargers rallied with a 9-0 run, but trailed 28-14 with 5:31 left in the first half, forcing the Tigers to take a timeout. During that run, the Chargers had a corner jumper and bucket inside, Hammer hit a long 3 and Schauer made a basket in the paint.
Both teams then battled back and forth, with the Tigers leading 35-19 going into the break.
Reese made an inside bucket and Sturm started the second half with a baseline-driving layup, then MVL got back on its feet with a free throw from Avery Fryer. But Sturm made a 3 and two free throws to give the Tigers a 44-20 lead.
The Chargers cut the deficit back to 16 points at 54-38 with Hammer’s comeback bucket in the paint, but the Tigers extended their lead to 25 points at 63-38 after Sturm scored on a low block in the paint. . The last three minutes of play.
The Hammers and Merces scored late in the game for the winning goal.
The Tigers weren’t necessarily stagnant in the second half, but things loosened up a bit as the Chargers didn’t let things get too out of hand.
“I think we were pretty rushed on the offensive side.” In the second half, Kelly said: “I think we wanted to move the ball and get a little bit more creative and make them take quick shots rather than have them play a little bit more defense. And they killed us on the offensive boards and forced a lot of putbacks. Then we fouled a little bit and got happy, but we couldn’t get out of it or transition because our opponent was either fouling or giving us offensive rebounds, but at the beginning of the game we got a lot of transition material to start the game.”
Santos said he was pleased with his team’s ability to keep the game from falling apart in the second half, especially after a long week of games.
“Our focus is just on calmness and dealing with adversity in a better way.” Santos said. “We weren’t able to completely chip away at the lead, but the fact that we were able to maintain some of the lead and not lose any progress is a good step in the right direction for us. After four games that week. , there wasn’t a lot of gas left in the tank, but the effort was there and that’s all you can ask for as a coach. So I want to thank them for how they fought through today and how they fought through the rest of the week. I’m really proud.”
MVL (1-6, 0-2) hosts Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop in a Tuesday night conference game and Springfield (3-3, 1-0) hosts a Tuesday night conference game. Welcome Wabasso.