Staff phot by Travis Rosenau Olivia Macho (14) puts up a shot in the paint while guarded by Wabasso’s Ava Samyn during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division girls basketball game Friday night at Cathedral High School.

NEW ULM — It took a half of basketball for the New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds to get some fire under them, but an early 10-0 run in the second half did the trick as they downed the Wabasso Rabbits 52-37 Friday night in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division girls basketball game.

Three Greyhounds finished in double figures, led by senior Maddie Gilles’ 14 points. Shay Wilfahrt had 11 points and Jayde Altermatt added 10. Olivia Macho chipped in 7 points also, while Ashlyn Hillesheim had 6.

Gilles was happy to help get her team their first win of the season and said the win showed the importance of teamwork.

“I feel like getting that win kind of set us up and kind of taught us how to play as more of a team,” Gilles said. “I think every game we play more as a team and we’re cutting off screens.”

Wabasso was led by Ava Samyn’s 11 points, while Elizabeth Morin and Anistasia Smith each scored 6 points.

It was also game between two teams looking to get their first win of the season, and both teams struggled to get going in the first half as they felt each other out.

The Greyhounds (1-7, 1-5) attacked the Rabbits (0-9, 0-6) defensively early with a press, which helped hold the Rabbits off the scoreboard for nearly five minutes before they got their first basket of the game from Leah Mathiowetz. The Greyhounds didn’t have much more luck getting going on offense either as an early 3 by Gilles that gave them a 3-0 lead to start ended up being their lone basket in the opening five minutes.

Rabbits first-year head coach Paige Richert said almost every team the Rabbits have seen through their first nine games of the season has come out with a 1-2-2 press to try to exploit the team’s struggles handling the ball.

“So we’ve been working through different things throughout practice all week to see, ‘OK, are we going to send our bigs up, how are we going to have our bigs be a contributing factor in it,'” Richert said. “So we finally just brought our bigs up towards the middle and then they’re going to have to back off because our guards aren’t handling the ball.”

While the Rabbits started getting through the press, it still didn’t lead to much more scoring. After a steal by Morin led to a layup that was contested by Shay Wilfahrt, the shot missed but was quickly cleaned up and put back in for a bucket by Samyn for a 6-6 tie. Shay Wilfahrt responded on the other end before Altermatt hit three free throws to give the Greyhounds an 11-6 lead.

The Greyhounds pushed their lead to 20-11 after an and-one by Gilles and a layup by Macho with less than five minutes to play in the half. The Greyhounds led by as much as 27-15 in the half after an and-one from Altermatt, but Smith scored the final bucket of the half in the paint to have the Rabbits down 27-17 at halftime.

Smith scored again early in the second half to cut the Rabbits’ deficit to single digits, but the Greyhounds got a 10-0 run that Macho finished with a layup for a 37-19 lead. The run was ended with a Samyn basket inside.

Wabasso hung around and cut their deficit back to single digits, 44-35, with around five minutes left on another Samyn basket, but the Greyhounds again grew their lead to earn the win.

“At halftime we talked again about just being patient on offense, taking our time, controlling the ball to our favor as much as we can, trying not to force anything, and I think that helped with that,” Cathedral head coach Dave Wilfahrt said. “And then you call a timeout and just try to settle them down a little bit and just say, ‘Take a look at the clock, we’re in no hurry, we don’t want to turn the ball over, we want to get at least good looks.'”

While the Rabbits were unable to get their first win of the season, Richert is noticing her players have been more adaptable compared to the start of the season.

“The big takeaway is that we can adjust to things on the fly,” Richert said. “We’re still obviously learning and growing, but the big takeaway I definitely think is that we can work things on the fly a lot better than we did at the beginning of the season.”

Cathedral hosts United South Central on Dec. 30, while Wabasso hosts Windom Area on Dec. 30.