By Travis Rosenau

trosenau@nujournal.com

SLEEPY EYE — Natalie Fischer’s 3 with 1:25 left in the first half of Saturday’s nonconference girls basketball game with BOLD saw her reach 1,000 points for her career.

The junior guard’s big moment ended up being one of many highlights for the Knights as they went on to down the Warriors 85-55 on the final day of the St. Mary’s Tip-Off Invitational.

Fischer, who finished the game with 14 points and became the 13th player in girls basketball history at St. Mary’s to reach 1,000 career points, said the milestone was a goal of hers from a young age.

“It means a lot,” Fischer said. “Ever since I was a kid I’ve been working in the gym with my dad and that’s always been one of our goals because I knew as our team, we would build as years went on and so I wanted to be the best that I could for my team. Scoring 1,000 was one of my goals, so it’s super exciting to reach because I’ve worked so hard at it.”

The Knights were tested early by the Warriors but pulled away midway through the opening half and got into rhythm. Fischer’s milestone 3-pointer, assisted by Sidney Tauer, put the Knights up 20, 43-23.

Sophomore Morgan Mathiowetz continued her dominant play with a game-high 48 points while adding eight rebounds, four assists and six steals. Freshman Olivia Schieffert added 15 points, seven rebounds and two steals also for the Knights, while the team’s lone senior Amelia Schwartz pulled in 10 rebounds.

The Knights took an early 15-7 lead after a steal and number from Fischer, forcing a BOLD timeout with less than 14 minutes left in the half. The Warriors rolled out of that timeout with 3s from Lilly Henriksen, who led BOLD with 17 points.

A block by Kya Elfering then led to a fast-break layup by Lainey Braulick, who finished the game with 13 points. Braulick was also fouled on the layup but couldn’t hit the extra free throw, making it a tie game at 15-all.

BOLD had it tied again moments later at 19-19, but the Knights ended the half with a 26-8 run to lead 45-27 at halftime. That final 26-8 run to end the half saw 16 points from

Mathiowetz quickly took over again by scoring every point in a 10-0 run in the final 10 minutes that gave the Knights a 37-point lead, 85-48, their largest lead of the game. With a BOLD timeout with 5:41 left to play, Knights head coach Bruce Woitas subbed out his remaining starters and got every player on his bench on the floor before the final horn.

The Knights (2-0) don’t play again until they host Sleepy Eye at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3, in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division game. BOLD dropped to 1-1 with the loss and play at Yellow Medicine East on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

A full story with additional comments and photos will be available online and in Tuesday’s edition of The Journal.