Photo by Jake McNeill: Minneota guard Autum Anderson (5) passes the ball forward in transition during a Camden Conference girls basketball game against Lac qui Parle Valley on Friday in Minneota.

MINNEOTA — A strong interior defensive presence and a consistent ability to convert turnovers into points helped the Minneota girls basketball team run away with a lopsided win over Lac qui Parle Valley in Camden Conference play on Friday. The Vikings had multiple runs of more than 13 unanswered points in the first half alone as they ran away with a 78-26 win over the Eagles.

“We [started to pull away because we] settled down and started taking what was there defensively,” Minneota head coach Alan Panka said. “We got a few steals that got us some open looks, we passed the ball pretty well and shot the ball decent when we were left open. It’s a little bit of all those things that you hope you do right, we were doing right for most of the night.”

After a back-and-forth first few minutes of play, the Vikings surged ahead out of a 7-7 tie. Sarah Gruenes gave Minneota the lead for good with a wide-open 3 from the wing, and a Jaylyn Coequyt fadeaway gave Minneota a 12-7 edge.

LQPV answered with a layup, but that would be the last bucket the Eagles scored for over 5 minutes.

Minneota capitalized on the LQPV drought with 13 unanswered points, including 4 each from Coequyt and Brynn Rost and a 3 from Ava Rost.

Autum Anderson finished the night with a game-high 17 points for Minneota, shooting 7 of 14 from the field while dishing out four assists. She also was among a group of players who were all over the ball defensively, finishing with seven steals.

Coequyt and Gruenes led the Vikings with eight steals each in the game while Meagher had another six. Jaylyn was one of three Vikings with a block in the game as well, joining Leah Coequyt and Ava Rost.

Minneota entered Friday’s matchup less than 24 hours after earning a 68-59 win over a Luverne team loaded with size. The Cardinals have Gracyn Woodley standing at 6-foot-4, Taya Johnson at 6-foot-1, and Briella John at 6-foot flat. As such, having to guard that sort of height a night earlier helped prepare Minneota for facing a smaller team like LQPV.

“Obviously [Caleigh] Conn’s a great player, but her size wasn’t quite what we saw last night, and not as many of them as last night when we were really scrambling all over the floor,” Panka said. “Tongiht, we were a little bit slower at that, but we still did a good enough job to help cover her up from the guards trapping in on top.”

The Vikings also got 14 points from Jaylyn Coequyt and 13 from Gruenes. Minneota had nine different players score at least 4 points in the game.

The Eagles’ ability to work the ball into the paint allowed them to establish an early lead. Caleigh Conn scored back-to-back layups for LQPV to establish an early lead, and Brooklynn Olson answered a go-ahead 3 from Libby Sussner to tie the game up at 7-7.

“We started off a little slow, just because you could tell the legs weren’t quite there, but once we got going and started subbing and rotating, getting them breaks and getting them rest, it started to pick up,” Panka said.

A big part of Minneota’s ability to shift the game’s momentum came down to its interior defense. While the Eagles got the ball down low often, Minneota was consistently able to alter shots or force turnovers in the low post.

Minneota went on another run of 14 unanswered points late in the half, sparked by Anderson draining a 3, jumping a passing lane for a steal and assisting an easy layup for Coequyt. The stretch brought the Vikings’ lead to 39-14 before LQPV got back on the board with under 90 seconds left in the half.

Ava Rost banked in a 3 in the waning seconds of the half to give Minneota a 42-16 lead heading into the locker room.

Gruenes helped MInneota pick up in the second half right where they left off. She drained a 3 on the first possession of the half and came up with a steal to set up an Eden Meagher layup.

The Vikings brought their cushion up to more than 35 points five minutes into the second half, bringing running clock into play. They never let up, allowing the running clock to take effect for the game’s final nine minutes. Still, Minneota continued to push further ahead even with its reserves in the game, leading by as many as 52 points.

“[The reserves] stepped in and did what they needed to do, whether it was rebounding or boxing out or just playing good defense and looking up the floor,” Panka said. “Everybody contributed, everybody did their job tonight.”

Minneota improves to 10-6 on the season with the win and next hosts Southwest Minnesota Christian (3-12) on Monday at 7:15 p.m.