BLOOMING PRAIRIE — With their backs to the wall and the prospect of dropping their fourth contest in five games, the Hayfield girls basketball team dug deep and found a way to beat Blooming Prairie 46-42 in BP Monday.

After trailing 36-28 with 8:10 left in the game after a put-back score by BP’s Ashley Hueman, the Vikings went to Kiley Severson on the next four possessions. The result — a 9-0 run that gave Hayfield (10-3 overall) a 37-36 lead with 5:27 left in the game.

Severson scored the first six of those points, including four on a move where she spun left off the post and finger-rolled a left handed lay-up against the BP defense.

“I’ve never actually used that move before,” Severson, a 6-foot, 1-inch junior, said.

On the fourth possession, BP (11-2 overall) doubled up Severson, but she dished it out to Kayla Garness, who knocked in a three-pointer from the wing to cap the run.

“I knew that I wasn’t gonna be open every time, but the shooters would be open when they collapsed in on me,” said Severson, who had 24 points and 14 rebounds.

After Resha Koster finished a drive to put the Awesome Blossoms back up 38-37, Severson responded with a put-back that turned into a three-point play to make it 40-38 with 4:27 left in the game. Severson scored again on a dish from Jordyn Krekling to make it 42-38.

“They didn’t have an answer for her. All of the sudden they had the pressure back on them,” Hayfield head coach Fred Kindschy said. “You hate to go to the well too many times, but I’ve always lived by the motto, you do it til they stop you. She definitely needed the ball. They just didn’t have an answer for her strength underneath.”

While Hayfield never gave up their lead, the Blossoms had plenty of chances as the Vikings missed five-of-six free throws in the last 46 seconds.

While trailing 46-42, BP’s Marie Morem missed a three from the wing and Lynnae Nelson missed a mid-range jumper. After Krekling missed two free throws, BP turned the ball over with 13 seconds left in the game.

“Holding a good team to 48, you’d think we’d have enough offense to overcome that,” BP head coach John Worke said. “We gave away a lot of opportunities. We had some missed lay-ups and open opportunities, but that’s just part of the game.”

Worke said his Blossoms couldn’t sell out on Severson due to Hayfield’s outside shooters.

“They have a nice mix of players. You can’t zone them because they’ll shoot the lights out on the perimeter. We just tried to maintain,” he said.

The Vikings missed 15 free throws on the night and made just five.

“We haven’t been doing very good on free throws for the last few games. We need to get in the gym and practice them more,” Krekling said.

Krekling gave Hayfield a scare in the first half when she hit the deck with an ankle injury with 9:08 left in the first half. Hayfield didn’t score for the first eight minutes of Krekling’s absence as BP mounted a 6-0 run to take a 20-16 lead.

But Garness hit a three and Severson made a put-back shot to make it 21-20 Hayfield before BP’s Lynnae Nelson hit a three-pointer with five seconds left in the half to make it 23-21 BP at the half.

Krekling played the entire second half with a hurt ankle, and Kindschy almost pulled her out of the game at one point to keep her healthy. But the win took away much of the junior forward’s pain.

“This is a good game to win, because it’ll probably put us as a top two seed in the subsection along with New Richland,” Krekling said.

Hayfield 21 25 — 46

BP 23 19 — 42

Hayfield scoring: Kiley Severson, 24; Jordyn Krekling, 6; Beth Felten, 6; Kayla Garness, 6; Renee Stier, 4; free throws: 25 percent (5-for-20)

BP scoring: Lynnae Nelson, 12; Marie Morem, 10; Ashley Hueman, 8; Resha Koster, 8; Kassie Lueth, 2; Erica Manske, 2; free throws: 58 percent (7-for-12)