Photo by Jake McNeill Russell-Tyler-Ruthton forward Ally Nelson (33) looks to pass the ball from the wing in the first half of a girls basketball game against Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey in Tyler on Thursday night.

TYLER — Coming off a pair of lopsided losses at Southwest Minnesota State’s Holiday Classic, the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton girls basketball team started its new year off with a bang on Thursday night. The Knights pulled away for an early lead against Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey and survived a late surge by the Wolverines for a 67-62 overtime win.

The bounce-back victory kept the Knights undefeated on their home court this season; RTR has now won each of its first four home games while sitting at 1-4 on the road or at neutral sites.

Ally Nelson scored the first points of overtime on a second-chance bucket but Julia Brinkman responded with a 3-pointer to put the Wolverines back on top. From there, Madi Burns hit a long 2-pointer off an assist from Shae O’Leary in the post but another pair of Brinkman free throws gave the Wolverines a 62-61 lead with 52 seconds remaining.

The Knights needed a bucket. Avery Schreurs drove into the paint looking for the go-ahead bucket but the Wolverines’ defense stripped the ball loose. Yet, Nelson was trailing right behind her, scooped up the loose ball and knocked down the clutch layup for a 1-point lead with 27 seconds remaining. Dilyn Werkman made both shots on a 1-and-1 opportunity at the free throw line and when Mountain Lake missed the game-tying 3-pointer, Nelson grabbed the rebound and knocked down both free throws to ice the game.

“Just making sure I use my legs. My dad always tells me, ‘use your legs on your free throws,’ and I knew I needed to make these two to win this game,” Nelson said of her thought process as she headed to the line.

Nelson saw plenty of opportunities in the post late in the game. The Knights fed her the ball late and she made the most of her height advantage — Mountain Lake is an undersized team and often guarded the 5-foot-10 Nelson with a player three or four inches shorter. Even in crunch time, she made the most of the opportunities and came up with some clutch shots. RTR head coach Steven Hesse said that those mismatches are something the team wants to target, but it’s easier said than done and the forwards can’t take advantage if the guards can’t get them the ball when Mountain Lake clogs the passing lanes.

“I was a little bit scared but I knew I had to put it up to draw a foul and maybe get an and-1 or shoot two free throws,” Nelson said when asked about her late-game shots.

Nelson finished with a game-high 21 points — 13 of which came after halftime — and her 13 rebounds led the Knights to a 39-28 advantage on the glass. Her four steals and a block were both tied with Tatum Hess for a game-high.

“I know in the first half that we were out-rebounding them but I would still say we’ve got to work on the little things,” Hesse said. “We’ve been working on it but when that clicks, I think we’re really going to be strong in that rebounding category. But we’ve got to stay down, we’ve got to stay in and we’ve got to rebound.”

O’Leary was a major catalyst for the Knights’ early offensive momentum. She scored the first points of the game after Tatum Hess stole the ball on the fullcourt press and dished it out to O’Leary in the corner for a 3-pointer. O’Leary scored 11 of her 13 points in the first half to pace the Knights to a 34-20 lead. She was the only Knight to make multiple 3-pointers in the game.

Nelson scored the second half’s opening points. Hess grabbed an offensive rebound and, when her putback attempt wouldn’t go, Nelson grabbed another and found the bottom of the net to put RTR up by 16 points.

The Wolverines battled back after Nelson’s basket. A pair of 3-pointers, including one from the corner that just barely beat the shot clock, cut the Knights’ lead to 9 points six minutes into the half. Two minutes later, A 3-pointer and a transition layup made it a 6-point game, 45-39.

Gabi Borresen extended the RTR lead back to 9 points with a 3-pointer but three free throws over two possessions brought the score back to 50-44 with five minutes to play. The Knights also fouled the Wolverines in transition on the play after and Mountain Lake made both shots to make it just a 4-point game.

Nelson finally ended the run with a layup through contact, and the free throw, after Dilyn Werkman saved the ball from going out of bounds on the sideline and Borresen picked up the loose ball and dished it to Nelson on the low block.

Annika Brinkman made it a one-possession game for the Wolverines after getting fouled on a 3-pointer and knocking down all three free throws. Burns responded with a long 2-pointer along the baseline to keep RTR in control and, after the Wolverines hit a long jumper of their own, Nelson again finished through contact for a 57-53 RTR lead.

Annika Brinkman hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to make it a 1-point game and Nelson went down with a leg cramp on the play. After a timeout to get Nelson off the court, Annika Brinkman stole the ball again and set up the Wolverines in transition, where Julia Brinkman made the second of her two free throws to tie the game and force overtime.

Nelson came back into the game while Brinkman was shooting her free throws and stayed in for the remainder of the game.

“They were just making shots. I don’t know exactly, I felt like everything they threw out went in,” Hesse said. “We were scoring with them, which was good, just not as fast. It made a difference. We got into some foul trouble, there’s no doubt we gave them some free points at the end that hurt us.”

Hess’ game-opening steal wasn’t a one-off for the senior guard. She proved to be quick on her feet as a defensive menace all game long. With two minutes remaining in the first half, Hess stole the Wolverines’ sideline inbound pass and took it to the hole for a bucket and a 30-15 RTR lead. From there, she sprinted back on defense and swatted a shot away on the low block for the first block of the game.

“Against a team like this, [transition points] are what you need. You need to get out and score before they get set up and do whatever they’re going to do as far as a defense,” Hesse said.

Mountain Lake grabbed its first lead of the game with a 3-pointer to go up 7-5. Hess tied the game back up by going coast-to-coast with a steal and a transition bucket, O’Leary put the Knights on top again with her second 3-pointer of the game and a Schreurs free throw made it a two-possession game again.

Schreurs kept the run going by stealing the ball, dishing it to Madi Burns in transition and then getting the ball back to finish the break with a layup. One possession later, Burns got the ball in the corner and swung the rock to O’Leary for another 3-pointer to give the Knights a 16-7 lead on the back of an 11-0 run.

RTR grabbed its first double-digit lead when O’Leary stripped an opponent in transition and then knocked down the short-range jumper to put the Knights up 22-11.

Nelson was the game’s second-leading scorer at the end of the first half with 8 points. Among those points was a hook shot from the center of the paint in the final minute of the half to put RTR up 34-17, its largest lead of the game. Still, Mountain Lake responded with a 3-pointer on the other end to cut the deficit down to 14 points at halftime.

Borresen led the Knights with four assists on the day while also stealing the ball three times on the defensive end.

RTR shared the ball well throughout the night, finishing with 15 assists as a group. Still, at some points they were too selfless and moved the ball too much, resulting in 23 turnovers.

“They always move the ball well, but I think you’re right, there are some times that they’ve got to be a little more selfish and take those shots,” Hesse said. “We’ve got to look at those instead of passing always to that corner or passing all the way down and around. We’ve got to look to either at least attack out of it or take that shot.”

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton goes back above the .500 mark with the win, now sitting at 5-4. It will look to further improve on that record when it hosts the 7-5 Lakeview Lakers on Saturday at 7 p.m.