Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM — Just when Redwood Valley thought it had all the momentum heading into halftime, the New Ulm Eagles swooped in and took that momentum away early in the second half with a 12-0 run.

With everything starting to click, New Ulm continued to create separation from the Cardinals as it ran away with a 78-54 win in a Big South Conference girls basketball game on Tuesday night.

The Eagles (18-7, 13-3) had four players in double figures, led by Morgan Hulke’s 17 points and four rebounds. Maddie Backer finished with 14 points, while Ramsey Hopp had 13 points and Betsy Joyce had 12 points and four rebounds.

Game Changers by Shirk Photography

The Cardinals (17-9, 9-7) got the last shot of the first half and made it on a 3 by Morgan Kodet to trail 42-37 at halftime.

While momentum seemed to be on the Cardinals’ side at halftime, the Eagles opened the second half with all of it. Hulke scored inside to begin a 12-0 run that was capped off with a pair of Hopp 3s to put the Eagles up 54-37 to start the second half.

“For us, it was just taking care of the ball,” Hulke said. “We had a lot of turnovers the first half and I also think we weren’t swinging the ball as much either. So one thing we talked about during halftime was making sure we swing the ball, making the extra pass and executing well, and I think we did that really well.”

Eagles head coach Julie Rogers said the second-half start was exactly what she wanted to see from her players to set the tone.

“We wanted to come out and have a really good start to the second half, we wanted to be a little bit more aggressive on defense and we did that, and the shots dropped,” Rogers said. “If you get the momentum going in your favor, it’s tough to stop this team when we get the ball rolling in our direction.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Brooklyn Lewis fakes to her right while guarded by Redwood Valley’s Morgan Kodet (10) and Cali Johnson (23) during a Big South Conference girls basketball game on Tuesday night at New Ulm High School.

Melayna Nez got a 3 to bang off the rim and in to stop the Eagles’ 12-0 run.

The Cardinals cut their deficit down to 12 after that, but New Ulm was patient and fluid with its offense, stretching its lead to 68-48 on a 3 by Riley Wilson. At one point, Eagles starting junior guard Brooklyn Lewis had to leave the floor for several minutes to tend to a bloody nose, but the Eagles never let up in her absence. Lewis did return to the floor late, however, scoring to ignite a 10-0 run that put the Eagles up 78-52, the largest lead of the night.

Backer sliced through the Redwood Valley defense effortlessly and fed Maggie Joyce for a bucket inside to end that run and finish the Eagles’ scoring. Kimamana Goodthunder scored on the other end to finish all scoring.

“They’ve got some really good athletes and they play tough defense,” Rogers said. “We tried to put our full-court press on them and that was kind of ineffective, so we’re like, ‘All right, let’s play the half-court defense.’ They’re opponents that we match up well with because they’re as athletic as we are.

“They’ve got some good players. They’ve got the one girl underneath [Kendall Huhnerkoch], they’ve got [Cali Johnson] on the outside, they’ve got some great players. This was a really good win for us against a very solid team and we beat them by 24, but it never felt like 24.”

New Ulm started the game hot and got out to a 13-6 lead off an 8-0 run that saw a Backer-to-Hulke bucket sandwiched in between a pair of Backer 3s. Moments later the Eagles got a 6-0 run to lead 22-10, getting baskets from Betsy Joyce, Lewis and Hulke. The Cardinals hung around, however, and cut that deficit to 23-20 after a turnaround jumper from the foul line by Huhnerkoch. New Ulm got its lead back up to 11 twice after that but cooled off in the final minutes of the half as the Cardinals cut their deficit to 5 at the break.

“Obviously the clock, we want to run down the clock,” Hulke said. “But we have the guards, the speed, and sometimes we just need to pause … it is important for us to just stop and work around our offense. That’s our biggest thing we talk about to is just making sure we swing the ball a lot and giving up a good shot for a great shot. I think we did that well in the second half, too.”

New Ulm has one more regulars season on the road at Hutchinson on Thursday night before preparing for the Section 2AAA playoffs, which begin next Wednesday.