Photo by Samantha Davis. Lakeview's Brynn Stensrud crashes the lane in the second half against Lac Qui Parle Valley Thursday night. Stensrud finished with a team-high 13 points in the Lakers' 61-41 win. 

COTTONWOOD — Setting the tone early on defense led to smooth second-half offense as the Lakeview girls basketball team defeated Lac Qui Parle Valley 61-41 Thursday evening behind Brynn Stensrud’s 13 points and Megan Schwartz 12 rebounds.

The Lakers’ full-court press and offensive rebounding continued to combat their early shooting struggles, as they collected several second-chance and fast break opportunities throughout the night. Lakeview entered the second half more confident as shots began to fall, and grew its double-digit lead quickly and never lost sight.

“I was really proud of our execution after the half. The talk in the locker room at halftime was we had to come out and set the tone early in the second right, defensively and offensively,” Lakeview head coach Mike Imes said. “We executed very well on both ends of the court. The kids played really hard right out of the gates.”

Along with Stensrud, Brook Gunlogson finished with 11 points and a team-high four steals. Aubrey Nething also collected six rebounds on the night. Lakeview tallied 48 total rebounds and 18 steals to influence the win.

Lakeview came into Thursday looking to bounce back from a 71-58 loss to an undefeated Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg team on Monday, which was just its third loss so far this season. The team had won six straight prior.

The Lakers’ junior- and senior-heavy roster built with experience continues to serve them well nearing the halfway point of the regular season, as they took control of the game early in the second and limited any chances for the Eagles to come back.

The first half quickly showed the game would be a competitive one, as LQPV grew an early lead. Yet, Lakeview caught up and took its advantage back. The first half stayed within reach, but it was the Lakers’ rebounding that benefited them.

Overall, Lakeview shot just 27% from the field, and went 10 for 20 at the free throw line.

Lakeview earned an 8-point lead at the half. Gunlogson and Nething each had 6 points, while Stensrud and Schwartz had 5 apiece.

Lakeview began the game playing a full court press, which worked on several occasions. It got three straight steals, but shots weren’t falling until Nething drove into the lane and made a floater down the middle to get on the board.

“I love our press … It speeds teams up, and I’m super proud of how hard they work in that,” Imes said. “Then, we were playing some man [defense], and we switched to his zone defense. That seemed to slow them [LQPV] down, but yeah, our press did cause a lot of trouble.”

Gunlogson got another steal, but didn’t land the fast break layup, however Jovie Benson trailed right behind for protection and caught the rebound and nailed the putback to tie the game up at 7, after the Eagles started with their early lead.

Nething right after collected an offensive board for another putback to put Lakeview ahead.

Nething also finished with 8 points to her six boards.

Lakeview forced two back-to-back travels on LQPV, and Benson drilled in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the team up 14-10.

The Eagles sank a deep 3 minutes later to grab the lead back as the Lakers committed a few turnovers, but a pair of free throws from Schwartz tied the game back up at 20.

There were numerous possessions where Lakeview grabbed three offensive rebounds on the same play, to which Nething and Schwartz would find their way in to finish the bucket and put the Lakers back in front as the half was winding down.

With seconds left, Gunlogson got back-to-back fast break layups, the second of which came from a steal off the press.

Lakeview went into the locker room with its 30-22 advantage after Schwartz got fouled at the basket and made 1 of 2 free throws.

“Megan Schwartz had a great game. I thought she was a real difference maker inside for us,” Imes said. “She did a great job controlling the boards.”

Schwartz also finished with 7 points.

Lakeview opened the second half looking much more confident with its shooting, and went on a 14-2 run to begin to pull away.

Stensrud hit a pair of 3-pointers, along with one from Aubreigh Rausch, and Aleiah Rosenau made a field goal of her own off a steal in the first minute of the half.

The Lakers also forced three straight LQPV turnovers, not allowing their defense to let up.

A low-post field goal from Nething got Lakeview its 20 point advantage at 44-24.

Imes also commended Nething for her defensive effort, and said she stepped up alongside Schwartz.

Lakeview kept its large lead and cruised through the rest of the night, continuing its aggressiveness on both ends of the court, until the final buzzer to solidify its 10th win of the season.

Lakeview (10-3) will look to get another win-streak developing when it next travels to Clara City to face a good MACCRAY (7-3) team on Monday with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

“We are very hungry for that game. It’s a huge section game, we are literally neck-and-neck,” Imes said. “We’re looking forward to a good day of practice on Friday, and we got to go to MACRAY on Monday and find a way to win that thing.”