By Jeff Meder

sports@nujournal.com

NEW ULM – Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton defeated Minnesota Valley Lutheran 66-37 on Tuesday in a nonconference girls basketball game at Storm Fieldhouse.

It was the second loss in a row for MVL.

JWP lost to New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva on Friday, while MVL lost to St. Clair on Saturday.

The game was not a perfect one because both teams had played 10 games since Jan. 20. Both teams had trouble putting the ball into the hoop, but MVL head coach Hailey Santos said her team’s turnovers were a key issue.

“Turnovers — we really struggled with possession of the ball,” Santos said. “We weren’t getting a lot of good shots. We weren’t ending the possession with a good shot. There were moments when their defense flustered us.”

She credited JWP for playing a good defensive game. She noted that the end-of-season exhaustion that has a schedule against teams in the section. San- tos said that both teams were flat tonight.

Avery Freier led MVL with 14 points and seven rebounds. Olivia Hammer added 12 points and four rebounds and Avery Hahn scored 4 points and had 10 rebounds.

The lack of “fresh legs” on the court was evident during the entire game because both teams did not shoot well. JWP used a full-court press, and it double-teamed when it could. It continued to use the press, but it would switch to either a match-up or a half-court defense, which kept MVL on its toes.

The game started out by being close with MVL tying it once. JWP regained the lead and it never looked back.

Late in the first half, JWP’s Presley James scored which game it a 20-point lead of 34-14. MVL got a free throw. JWP responded with a 7-0 run which ended the first half with a 41-15 advantage. Mikayla Wheelock hit a 3, Nevaeh Weimert scored on a layup and Wheelock stole the ball and passed it to James, who scored on a layup.

The Chargers played better in the second half and tried everything they could

to get back into the game. Wheelock nailed back-to- back 3s as the game was winding down.

Katelyn Olson led all scorers with 24 points and Wheelock added 15 points for JWP .

MVL (11-12, 2-5) will play at St. Clair on Tues- day.