Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Ashlyn Hillesheim, left, battles Cleveland’s Lacey McCabe for the ball during the first half of Thursday night’s Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover girls basketball game.

NEW ULM — When Thursday night’s Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover girls basketball game with the Cleveland Clippers got tough, the New Ulm Cathedral Greyhounds got tougher.

Despite dealing with foul trouble and the Clippers tying it up late at 50, the Greyhounds got several big moments out of freshman Ashlyn Hillesheim late to help pick up a 60-52 win.

Hillesheim didn’t lead the Greyhounds in any specific statistical area as she finished the game with 9 points, but her presence down the stretch was bigger than anything that could show up in a box score. After the Clippers came back to tie it at 50-all after a 10-0 run, Hillesheim ended the run with the go-ahead bucket. Moments later, she sank a pair of clutch free throws with 1:39 left to put the Greyhounds up 56-52.

She then showed off her defensive awareness as she stepped in front of a long pass down the court for a steal, allowing Greyhounds head coach Dave Wilfahrt to take a timeout with 1:06 left.

After the timeout, the Greyhounds got a pair of free throws from Jayde Altermatt, one from Maddie Gilles and one more from Hillesheim to seal the victory.

“It really feels rewarding honestly,” Hillesheim said. “The beginning of the season was pretty hard for us, but I can see the growth for us already and we’re going to continue to grow now.”

The Greyhounds were led by Shay Wilfahrt, who finished with a game-high 17 points, but she was limited by foul trouble in the final eight minutes as she picked up her fourth foul with 7:21 left to play. Shay Wilfahrt also was the key cog in the offense’s lineup as one of the primary ball handlers for most of the night, forcing others to step up late as she took a seat on the bench. She did return to the game with around five minutes left to play, but with an available varsity roster of just eight players, things had to change one way or another down the stretch.

“It was to the point where we just told everybody that we have to try to continue to work as a team out there and protect the ball, limit those turnovers,” coach Wilfahrt said. “You just do the best you can and if your offense isn’t flowing perfectly, maybe you have to do something else, dribble handoffs or screens because if you don’t have the ball, you can’t score.”

Altermatt finished with 14 points also to lead the Greyhounds, while Gilles had 10 points.

The Clippers were led by Lacey McCabe’s 15 points, while Ava Hahn and Addi Holden each had 12 points.

After a bucket inside gave Cleveland an early 17-11 lead, Cathedral got back in it with a free throw from Gilles, a steal for a layup by Hillesheim and a bucket inside by Shay Wilfahrt to trail 17-16. The Clippers got back-to-back scores in the paint, however, the last a wide-open shot by Mollie Bowman off an inbounds pass to put them up 21-16 and force a Greyhounds timeout with 3:07 left in the opening half.

Coach Wilfahrt’s timeout paid off as his Greyhounds ended the half on a 10-0 run, tying it after Shay Wilfahrt cut inside for 2 and Brynn Wilfahrt buried a 3. Shay Wilfahrt scored inside to give Cathedral its first lead since being up 6-5.

Gilles, who hit seven 3s on Tuesday as she passed 1,000 points for her career, hit her second 3 of the night to give the Greyhounds a 26-21 halftime lead.

Altermatt opened the second half with a pair of free throws for a 28-21 lead, but the Clippers cut their deficit down to 30-28 after a 3 by Holden and trailed by just 1, 34-33, after a free throw by McCabe.

Back-to-back 3s by Altermatt put Cathedral up 46-37, but Cleveland didn’t quit and moments later made it a whole new game with its 10-0 run to tie the game at 50. Then came Hillesheim’s big go-ahead bucket in the paint to give the Greyhounds a lead they never lost.

“That gave me a lot of confidence, especially since I’m a lot shorter than everybody,” Hillesheim, who is 5-foot-6, said of her big bucket. “It’s a lot harder to get things going, so once you get that momentum, it’s hard to stop it and that can carry on to teammates and that helps everybody.”

Cathedral moved to 3-16 overall on the year, while Cleveland fell to 1-15.

The Greyhounds are at Wabasso for a Tomahawk Division game Saturday.