Staff photo by Ari Selvey Nicollet’s Savannah Klockziem (33) takes a shot while defended by Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Ellie Kaesermann (left) and Olivia Hammer (12, right) during a nonconference girls basketball game at MVL High School.

NEW ULM — Nicollet jumped out to a 7-1 lead over Minnesota Valley Lutheran and never looked back, going on to win 64-51 in a nonconference girls basketball game on Thursday.

Rebounding was one big difference in the game, with Nicollet consistently getting second-chance points to help its offense.

“Defense and rebounding, we spend a lot of time of those two things in practice every day,” Nicollet head coach Dustin Wright said. “We preach defense and rebounding constantly, and the girls just played really hard tonight and got those offensive boards and easy buckets and played hard on defense which lead to some easy offense too.”

Cheyenne Klockziem and Savannah Klockziem were a big part of the reason for the Raiders’ board dominance, with Cheyenne Klockziem collecting 19 rebounds to help lead to 16 points, along with two steals and two blocks, while Savannah Klockziem had 16 points with nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.

“Just making sure you’re boxing out and knowing where your girl is,” Savannah Klockziem said. “And it also has to do with the rest of the team. If we’re all boxing out together, it makes rebounds easier to get.”

Savannah Klockziem added that it took a full team effort to get the win.

“I think we all help each other,” she said. “When we were around the ball, it created openings for driving, and just passing the ball out for shots. If I didn’t have my teammates and we didn’t work together, those shots couldn’t happen.”

Leah Bode added 11 points with 10 rebounds and three steals, while Zoie Rengstorf had 8 points and seven rebounds and Jazmyn Gotettlicher had 7 points and seven rebounds.

Avery Freier led the Chargers with 21 points and four rebounds, while Olivia Hammer had 15 points. Natalie Matzkie added 8 points for MVL.

Bode opened the game with a layup and followed that up with a steal and score to go up 4-0. Cheyenne Klockziem hit a free throw and a layup to extend that lead to 7-1 before Freier interrupted the run with a driving layup. Bode got a putback to force an MVL timeout up 9-3. Nicollet continued to control the lead, but MVL battled back to cut the advantage to 17-15 on a layup from Freier. Rengstorf hit a 3-pointer to put the Raiders up 20-15, and the two teams traded buckets for a few possessions.

Savannah Klockziem hit a baseline jumper after a Nicollet offensive rebound to force another MVL timeout up 28-20, and Nicollet maintained that lead for a 38-27 advantage going into halftime.

MVL got things sorted after halftime, going on a 13-1 run to cut the lead to 42-40.

“I think we just need discipline to the little things,” MVL head coach Hailey Santos said. “As bad as rebounding was in the first half, it was a very quick comment at halftime. We could spend 10 minutes at halftime dwelling on the fact that we didn’t rebound well, but it comes down to effort and discipline and desire on every possession.

“We got ourselves back in a good situation in that second half with strong man-to-man D. But we just weren’t consistent with it tonight. It was a big problem for us.”

Hammer started the run with a mid-range jumper, followed by a baseline jumper by Hahn. Matzke got a transition layup and a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 36-42, then Hammer and Hahn each hit a layup to get the lead down to just 2 points.

However, Nicollet regained control with a putback from Cheyenne Klockziem, slowly putting a cushion between itself and MVL.

“After we took that timeout, we just reminded the girls that MVL is a good team,” Wright said. “They’re not just going to give us this game, so you’ve got to lock back in with that same intensity on the defensive end that we had in the first half that gave us that lead in the first place.”

By the time MVL called its next timeout with 9:24 to play, Nicollet was up 52-43. MVL’s final timeout with 1:38 to play saw Nicollet with a 63-51 lead, and Nicollet kept the advantage in double digits for the final minutes to come away with the win.

Nicollet (10-8) travels to Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart on Monday. MVL (10-8) hosts Sibley East on Friday.