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No. 4 Knights stay unbeaten, down Greyhounds

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau A host of Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights, including Morgan Mathiowetz (back-center), Brynne Ibberson (11, right) and Olivia Schieffert (2, center) battle New Ulm Cathedral’s Jayde Altermatt (middle) for a rebound during a Tomahawk Division girls basketball game Tuesday at Cathedral High School. Also pictured is Cathedral’s Maddie Gilles (5) and Jaylynn Sellner (4).

NEW ULM — While Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Morgan Mathiowetz drew a double team the entire first half of Tuesday evening’s Tomahawk-Valley Conference, Tomahawk Division girls basketball game at New Ulm Cathedral, the Knights still were able to do what they’ve done to every other team so far this season.

Take control and win.

The No. 4-ranked Knights continued their dominance this season as they finished Tuesday’s game with an 85-34 win over the Greyhounds.

Mathiowetz still ended up getting involved on the offense as she finished with a game-high 29 points. The sophomore combined that offense on the defensive end with 11 steals and six rebounds.

While Mathiowetz drew the early double team, the Knights were able to get everyone else involved on offense, one being freshman Olivia Schieffert. Schieffert didn’t get her first bucket until scoring to put the Knights up 30-13 in the first half, but she finished the game with 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

“I think Morgan is really good, but I think we also have a lot of other really good players willing to step up when Morgan is, for example, getting double-teamed,” Schieffert said.

Schieffert was certainly one of those other good players for the Knights on Tuesday. Natalie Fischer was another as she finished with 11 points and three assists, while Brynne Ibberson had 9 points and six rebounds and Amelia Schwartz added 8 points and five rebounds.

The Greyhounds were led by Maddie Gilles’ 10 points, while Brynn Wilfahrt added 7 points and Jayde Altermatt had 6 points.

As the Greyhounds kept the ball out of Mathiowetz’s hand on the Knights’ opening possession, Fischer got her team going with a 3. It didn’t take long for Mathiowetz to get on the scoreboard herself after that as she stole the ball and finished with a layup. Ibberson then got a steal for a layup of her own for a 7-0 Knights lead before a 3 from Wilfahrt got the Greyhounds on the board.

Sidney Tauer got the Knights up by double digits moments later at 13-3, but Wilfahrt canned her second 3 of the night to have the Greyhounds down 13-6. Fischer answered with back-to-back 3s, however, and a free throw by Ibberson had the Knights up 20-6. The Knights had a pair of 8-0 runs after and after a 3 by Altermatt near the end of the half, Mathiowetz converted an and-one and Schwartz got a putback to beat the buzzer to give the Knights a 46-19 halftime lead.

The Knights continued their all-around dominance in the second half as their lead ballooned to 67-24 after back-to-back Schieffert buckets. A 3 from Olivia Macho cut the Greyhounds’ deficit to 67-27, but the Knights went on an 18-0 run after that to lead 85-27 as running time began and substitutions entered.

The Greyhounds were able to stop the run with a 7-0 run to end the game courtesy of an Ashlyn Hillesheim layup, an and-one by Gilles and a layup by Gilles.

The Knights, now 15-0 overall and 11-0 in the Tomahawk, still have 11 games left in the regular season and five Tomahawk games. While nobody has been able to knock off the Knights yet this season, Schieffert said the team will need to continue to put in the effort if they want to reach their goals.

“I feel like just wanting to be the best team, you also have to continue working on your defense and scoring because if we get to the state tournament, we know we are going to have to play tougher teams,” Schieffert said. “So just practicing that and making sure not to play down to a different team’s level is one of the main things.”

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