Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Ziva Zahrt (23) contends in the post with Springfield’s Jada Reese (left) and Kendall Krueger (right) during a nonconference girls basketball game Friday at Springfield High School.

SPRINGFIELD — For the second night in a row, the Minnesota Valley Lutheran girls basketball team found itself in a tie game late in the second half.

For the second night in a row, it was Avery Freier that broke that tie, scoring on a driving layup and adding a free throw to put MVL over Springfield 57-54 Friday in nonconference play.

Despite Freier’s late-game heroics, it was MVL’s post play that was the highlight of the night for the Chargers, with Ziva Zahrt, Avery Hahn and Ellie Kaesermann all putting in strong performances. Zahrt led the Chargers in with 16 points and four rebounds, while Hahn had a double-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds, including six offensive, and three steals. Kaesermann added 9 points, four rebounds and two steals.

“As much of a bummer it is to have back-to-back games, playing against Maple River [on Thursday] and Springfield, they both play very similar styles, especially on defense.” MVL head coach Hailey Santos said. “We thought that today we thought we could use our inside post presence, which is something that we’ve been working on constantly this whole season. But this was a perfect game to focus on it.”

Freier added 13 points, seven assists and four rebounds as her slashing set up layups from the forwards all game. With the win, MVL improves to 4-0, matching its win total from a season ago. Already the team has proven resilient with two games that came down to the final shot, and the young team has gained a lot of experience in playing competitive basketball.

“This is a great confidence boost for the girls,” Santos said. “I’ve just been impressed with their ability to stay calm and even-headed in these tight situations and make the plays necessary to come out on top in these tight games.”

Jada Reese led Springfield in scoring with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Emma Hauger had 15 points, nine steals, six rebounds and five assists. Jasmine Novotny added 10 points and six rebounds.

Springfield head coach Mike Kelly said his team struggled with ball movement in the game, leading to some stagnant offensive attacks.

“We really struggled on offense,” he said. “We didn’t have much movement tonight. Gotta give credit to MVL, they played tough defense. But we were really not moving the ball as well as we should have. We had a lot of passing and standing and stuff. We need to learn to screen away from the ball a little more. We just didn’t seem to get in a real rhythm at all tonight.”

Kelly also complemented MVL’s ability to attack inside with multiple players.

“They did a nice job getting it to their posts,” he said. “They were able to be more physical than us. They used their height to their advantage and did a nice job there. They played really well.”

Kelly said his team usually did better when they could get into transition offense, something that MVL did a good job of taking away in the game.

“We do better when we get to transition and run with the ball more,” Kelly said. “We didn’t get many transition breaks tonight. MVL did a nice job of getting back. The first couple of games we got a lot of points off of transition, and they were able to get back. We struggled having to set the ball up tonight. Something we have to work on.”

MVL started off the game with the lead, with Kaesermann getting a layup and a putback to give the Chargers a 12-8 advantage. Another putback by Hahn and a pair of free throws by Zahrt helped extend the lead to 18-8, and a mid-range jumper by MVL’s Natalie Matzke forced a timeout from Springfield.

The Tigers began clawing back into the game, starting with a layup by Novotny. Reese hit a pair of 3-pointers to cut the lead to 21-18, but Freier responded with a 3 of her own. Still, Hauger’s 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer tied the game up at 29.

Springfield took the momentum into the second half, taking a 39-37 lead on a putback by driving layup by Reese. A layup by Kendall Krueger and a long midrange jumper by Reese put the score at 43-39, and a reverse layup by Novotny gave Springfield its largest lead of the game, 45-39. Hahn responded with a layup, then MVL’s Olivia Hammer hit a bucket in transition to cut the lead down to a single point. Springfield’s Olivia Milbrath got a layup to extend the lead to 47-44, but Freier hit a 3-pointer to tie the game once more. A putback by Milbrath and a floater by Reese made it a 4-point game, but Freier hit two free throws and Zahrt made a 3-pointer to take the lead for MVL. Milbrath made a free throw to tie the game again with 1:48 to play, setting the stage for Freier’s game-winning layup and free throw. Springfield was unable to convert on a 3-pointer as MVL took home the win.

MVL hosts Mankato Loyola on Tuesday, while Springfield (2-1) travels to Wabasso on Tuesday.