Jan 24, 2025
Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Avery Freier drives to the hoop during a nonconference girls basketball game against Medford Thursday at MVL High School.
NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Avery Freier scored 23 points in the first half on the way to a career-high 31 in a 74-55 win over Medford in a nonconference girls basketball game on Thursday.
Freier’s scoring was kickstarted by her defense, with seven steals helping the sophomore guard to several transition opportunities.
“I think it was more on the defensive end, getting steals and turning those steals and defensive energy into points,” Freier said. “I think it was just kind of that.”
Defense is what got the whole team into the game after Medford kept it close early, but the Chargers went on a 16-2 run to close out the first half with a 42-27 lead.
“Defense got us back into it,” MVL head coach Hailey Santos said. “And defense is what put us in that problem in the first place. Just being a little too undisciplined, not finding matchups quickly down the floor. They turned it around, they figured it out before halftime, got the momentum going, and it was nice to start halftime on the run that we did. We continued to play to the high standards of defense that we wanted to.”
Freier said the team needed to feel more energy than they had to start the game, and an injection of that energy and defense helped carry the Chargers to a win and keep Medford winless on the season.
“I think we just didn’t come out with enough energy right away,” she said. “And then we really picked up our energy and our talk. We kind of frazzled them. Then we really just built off of each other’s energy, and I think that’s what helped.”
MVL was also adjusting to new lineups with starters Ziva Zahrt and Julia DeWitt out for the game, with Ellie Kaesermann and Natalie Schumann stepping up into the starting lineup.
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job of having a lot of different girls stepping up,” Freier said. “Today we didn’t have two of our starters, and Ellie and Natalie stepped up a lot. Everyone on our team in the second half, our goal was to get everyone to score. We didn’t, but it’s just fun where we have games like this were we can try to get everyone involved.”
Zahrt has been out with injury since Jan. 9, and Dewitt missed the game with an illness.
Olivia Hammer added 13 points and four steals for MVL, while Kaesermann had 9 points, 11 rebounds and three steals in the start.
MVL struggled to hit shots early as Medford took a 9-6 lead, and it took a layup through a foul from Freier for MVL to take its first lead since a 2-0 start and go up 14-13. Medford battled back with an old-fashioned 3-point play from Addison Vandereide, but Freier hit a 3-pointer of her own to go up 18-16. MVL held onto a small lead for several possessions until Medford’s Olivia Ward converted another and-one to go up 23-22. Freier hit another 3-pointer to take 26-25 lead, sparking MVL’s big run where Freier scored 4 more points. The run ended with a 3-pointer from Kaesermann and the halftime buzzer as MVL went up 42-27.
MVL continued to score to open the second half, with a driving layup from Avery Hahn opening the period. After the teams traded a few buckets, MVL scored 18 unanswered, highlighted by a Katlyn Stadick layup through contact and a 3-pointer from Natalie Matzke to go up 68-35. That ended up being the Chargers’ largest lead of the game, as MVL rotated its bench in for the final 10 minutes of the game. Medford went on a 14-4 run to close the game, but MVL was still able to take home a 19-point victory.
MVL (10-6) plays at Maple River on Tuesday.
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