HAYFIELD —The No. 1 ranked Lyle-Pacelli girls basketball team proved their worth atop the Minnesota Class A polls as they topped No. 5 Hayfield 66-49 to win the Hayfield Tournament Thursday.

The Athletics (10-1 overall) pounded the ball inside to their senior post player as Kristi Fett racked up 36 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks and they held the Vikings to four three-pointers just one day after Hayfield had connected on 15 threes in a game.

LP head coach Justin Morris credited Hayfield for being a worthy opponent, but he liked the way his team controlled the pace.

“[Hayfield is] unbelievable. They’re skilled, they shoot the ball and they work hard,” Morris said. “Kasey’s a great coach. It’s a great barometer to see where we’re at, but we’ve still got to get better.”

LP made it a point to feed Fett early and often in the paint and eventually she was able to begin scoring at will against a smaller front line for Hayfield. LP senior 1,000-point scorer Brooke Walter has sacrificed a lot of her own scoring opportunities this season to keep Fett involved and Thursday’s game was no different as Walter finished with three points, four rebounds and eight assists.

“We try to get the best look that we possibly can,” Walter said. “We try to move it around and find her. Sometimes we just lob it in.”

Fett was able to get a little more room to operate in the paint when LP began to connect from long range. Kendal Truckenmiller had nine points as she hit three baseline threes for LP.

“The shooters help me tremendously,” Fett said. “It takes the double team off and it gives me to space to move. We have excellent shooters.”

The Vikings (8-2 overall) have had both of their losses come against teams with big post players as their previous loss came against Byron and its big post player Ayoka Lee.

Krekling said Hayfield’s small lineup makes it difficult for them to matchup with bigger teams.

“We tried a couple different things and most of them didn’t work. That’s our weakness. We don’t have a big and we’re a team of guards,” Krekling said. “We had some girls that turned down open shots. They were a little shy in the big game and we need to get out of that.”

Hayfield was led by Carrie Rutledge who had 14 points and Kate Kruger, who had eight points, six rebounds and five assists.

While they are ranked at the top of Class A, Walter said LP knows that it still has some work to do with a long season ahead.

“We have a lot of room to grow,” Walter said. “We’re good, but we can be better and we all know that.”

LP 31  35  —  66

Hayfield 21  28  —  49

LP scoring: Kristi Feat, 36; Olivia Christianson, 10; Kendal Truckenmiller, 9; Abby Bollingberg, 6; Brooke Walter, 3; Lucy Nelson, 2; free throws: 75 percent (9-for-12); rebounds: 32 (Fett, 12)

Hayfield scoring: Carrie Rutledge, 14; Maggie Streightiff, 10; Kate Kruger, 8; Elecia Brown, 8; Olivia Matti, 5; Abby Stasko, 2; Emma Holst, 2; free throws: 40 percent (4-for-10); rebounds: 24; turnovers: 13