Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Sleepy Eye senior Paige Haala (3) celebrates an and-one opportunity her teammate Sam Price got in the second half of Monday night’s nonconference game against Minnesota Valley Lutheran at Sleepy Eye High School. Also pictured in front is Sleepy Eye senior Cadence Okerman (5).

SLEEPY EYE — After scoring on back-to-back layups for her team early in the second half, Sleepy Eye senior Paige Haala sat just a point away from 1,000 for her career.

Her next shot made extended out another 19 feet, but it was cash as she buried a 3 to pass the 1,000-point milestone on Monday night. Haala finished with a game-high 20 points to lead her team to a 74-54 win over Minnesota Valley Lutheran in a nonconference girls basketball game.

Haala, who became the 10th player in Sleepy Eye girls basketball history to pass 1,000 points, got her milestone 3 on an assist from fellow senior Cadence Okerman. It was also a night Sleepy Eye celebrated its seniors before the game.

“It’s incredible,” Haala said. “Just to follow those girls [before me], do what they did, I’d say I looked up to them. Definitely wanted to just be like them.”

Two of those girls in particular graduated 4,707 career points between them last year in Kadence Hesse (2,750) and Brea Mertz (1,957), who were both there Monday night to watch Haala join the historic club.

“That’s awesome, they’re some of my best friends,” Haala said of the two being there Monday. “Even though I played with them last year, I still keep in touch with them and I see them all the time. It felt really good that they were here.”

Haala also had three assists, three steals and three blocks in Monday’s win, while Okerman had 15 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and six steals. Kayla Hecht added 10 points and five rebounds, while Taylor Berkner had 9 points, four rebounds and four assists and Sam Price had 6 points and eight rebounds.

MVL was led by Olivia Hammer’s 17 points, while Avery Freier had 12 points and Avery Hahn had 10 points and 17 rebounds.

On Senior Night, it was senior Yanellie Fernandez getting the first bucket of the game to put Sleepy Eye up 2-0. Hammer answered on the other end in the paint before a mid-range jumper from her put MVL ahead 4-2. An Okerman and-one and a Haala 3 gave Sleepy Eye an 8-4 lead.

Hammer hit a 3 to have MVL down 10-7, but that was as close as the Chargers got from there out as turnovers began to pile up on them.

The Indians put together a 10-0 run to lead 26-9 before a Hahn free throw and a 3 from Freier got MVL back on the board. Jaelynn Schauman, who finished the night with 6 points and five rebounds, scored to give Sleepy Eye its largest lead of the first half, 32-15.

The Chargers cut it down to 32-24 after a 9-0 run that was capped off on a bucket by Olivia Enter and a steal and layup by Hammer. Hecht put a dot on the half with a 3, however, giving Sleepy Eye a 35-24 lead at halftime.

Haala’s milestone 3 put her team up 44-26 as the Indians rolled to open the second half and moments later another 3 by her had them up 47-28. Sleepy Eye took its largest lead of the game, 70-45, after Okerman drove the baseline and finished for 2.

Sleepy Eye has had quite the turnaround from its first few games of the season and now sits 19-7 overall and has the No. 3 seed in the Section 2A tournament. It hosts No. 14 New Ulm Cathedral on Monday night.

“We started out 0-4, so it’s kind of incredible what we’ve done,” Haala said. “I think we can make a deep run in the playoffs. We’ve kind of learned how to play together and from [our start], it’s just kind of gone uphill.”

The Chargers, however, dropped their fourth game in a row with Monday’s loss to fall to 11-14 on the season and will now prepare for the Section 2AA tournament. The Chargers are the No. 12 seed and travel to take on No. 5 Central at Norwood Young America in a 7 p.m. 2AA tourney game Monday.