Medford was strong where Blooming Prairie was weak, and the end result was a 64-57 Gopher Conference win for the visiting Tigers Friday night in Blooming.

Blossoms coach John Worke was encouraged by his team's offensive output of 57, which was the second-best score of the season. But he also acknowledged that the defense did not do its part.

"We just cannot keep up that pace," Worke said. "Fifty-seven points for us is a very nice offensive output for us, we just cannot give up that many points."

Medford made 24-37 free-throws as a slower and shorter Blossoms squad was caught standing still in its 2-3 zone.

"Defensively we lack a couple of things -- heighth and quickness," Worke said. "And when you don't have those areas, defensively you struggle."

Sixty-four points was the most surrendered by the stingy Blossom defense all season, which 57 would have been good enough for wins in all but BP's last two games. Byron scored 60 in Tuesday's non-conference Blossom loss.

"They shot a lot of free throws and they were aggressive," Worke said of Medford.

Mandy Brendemuhl got to the free-throw line 18 times and led all players with 18 points. Leah Steinbauer added 14 for the Tigers and Kara Smith scored 13.

Lisi Ingvalson led the host Blossoms with 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Angela Noble and Alicia Nelson added 10 points apiece.

Blooming Prairie (6-7, 4-3) dropped below .500 for the first time since starting the season 0-1. The Blossoms hope to get back to even with a Gopher Conference contest Tuesday night in New Richland.

Boxscore:

MEDFORD (64) -- Nicole Maas 2, Amy Sauferer 3, Alissa Hager 7, Katie Ludtke 1, Mandy Brendemuhl 18, Leah Steinbauer 14, Kara Smith 13, Emily Johnson 6.

BLOOMING PRAIRIE (57) -- Kari Lueth 8, Alicia Nelson 10, Liz Kollar 6, Andrea Miller 3, Calla Swenson 4, Sara Wonderlich 2, Steph Njos 2, Angela Noble 10, Lisi Ingvalson 12.

Medford15191614--64

Blooming14141514--57

Field goals -- Med 18-45; BP 25-58.

Free-throws -- Med 24-37; BP 6-9.

Three-pointers -- Med 4-12; BP 1-2.