Staff Photo by Jake Olson: Martin County West's Mirta Gracia scans the court while pushing the pace against Nicollet during the first half of Monday night's contest at the Martin County West High School.

SHERBURN – Nicollet’s interior scoring and defensive pressure were too much for Martin County West on Monday night as the Raiders avoided a late second-half surge and topped the Mavericks 59-51 in a Valley Division girls basketball game.

Raiders forward Cheyenne Klockziem made the most of her opportunities down low, cashing in 24 points and securing seven rebounds to haunt the entire MCW frontcourt. Guard Chloe Kachelmeier chipped in 12 points, while forward Jazmyn Goettlicher stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and five steals.

It was a distributed MCW scoring attack with five different players notching more than six points. Emily Schettler led all players with 15 points while corralling 10 rebounds. Ida Rohman gave the Mavericks a spark in the back court with 11 points of her own. Maddie Carlson produced eight points while Courtney Anderson tossed in seven, respectively.

The Maverick guards were tested immediately with Nicollet’s 2-2-1 full-court press, causing multiple turnovers in the early stages of the contest and preventing any half-court action for head coach Cliff Anderson’s team. Consecutive giveaways led to two quick layups from Klockziem and Aubrey Hulke, giving the Raiders an early 10-4 cushion.

“Nicollet did a good job of keeping us in a helter-skelter offense, and we couldn’t settle down enough to make it to a half-court game,” MCW head coach Cliff Anderson said. “We had some mental mistakes and missed some easy shots, but we just need to settle down a little bit more in our half-court offense.”

Whenever the press was broken, however, Cliff Anderson’s team found success by using the transition opportunities to their advantage. A couple of open court opportunities from Carlson propelled an 11-4 scoring surge for the Maverick offense to take a 23-22 lead with five minutes left to play in the first.

Nicollet followed this with back-to-back 3-pointers from Kachelmeier on the left wing, giving her team a lead that would never again be overtake by Martin County West for the rest of the way. Klockziem’s and-one layup capped off a 14-2 offensive run by the Raiders heading into the intermission.

“Their press hurt us in the first half,” Cliff Anderson said.

Rohman got things back on the right track for Martin County West after burying an outside shot and sinking a floater, cutting the lead to under 10, 38-30. It was the Mavericks’ turn to force turnovers in the second half, stringing together a pair before Courtney Anderson’s personal five-point swing led to a timeout from Nicollet head coach Dustin Wright with 11 minutes to play.

Wright’s team responded to his challenge with an offensive burst of their own, taking advantage of an impressive inside-out scoring capability to push the lead back to a comfortable mark. Like clockwork, Kachelmeier rattled home another deep shot from the perimeter, leading to two free throws from Klockziem to push the cushion to 49-39.

MCW’s last shot at coming back came with under four minutes left in regulation. Courtney Anderson finished off a nifty pass from Rohman under the hoop that prompted Cliff Anderson to burn a timeout with his team facing a 55-51 deficit.

But Nicollet’s front-court presence proved to be too much in the end. Consecutive assists from Goettlicher to Klockziem were the icing on the cake for the Raiders in their sixth win of the early season.

“You have to play a full game against Nicollet to win, and we weren’t our normal selves out there,” Cliff Anderson said.

Martin County West falls to 3-3 on the season and will look to get back to its winning ways this Friday against Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons at home. Nicollet (6-3) will host Sleepy Eye this Thursday in hopes of adding to its current winning streak of three.