LEOLA – Aberdeen Christian scored nine unanswered points in the final three minutes to grab a 35-26 win over Leola-Frederick in Lake Region Conference girls’ basketball Thursday night.

The fifth-rated Knights broke free from a 26-26 tie to secure the victory and improve to 4-0 on the season.

“This group knows how to win and I was happy with how they closed out the game,” said Christian coach Michael Rohrbach. “Our free throw shooting down the stretch really helped seal the game.”

Mallory Miller made 8 of 10 free throws in the final quarter to lead the final surge. Christian outscored the Titans 17-1 from the charity stripe throughout the game.

The Knights got off to a slow start and trailed 7-1 to begin the contest.

The game was tight the whole way as Leola-Frederick went toe-to-toe with the Knights, trailing by just two points heading into the fourth quarter.

In the end, Christian found a way to grab their third road victory of the season.

“I thought we battled hard. It was a physical game that was tough the whole way,” Rohrbach said. “I thought our defense kept us in it when our offense was struggling. We were were able to get a lot of stops and generate steals in our trap.”

Miller once again led the Knights with 19 points to go along with six rebounds. Grace Kaiser followed with eight points.

Christian played without starting guard Joy Rohrbach because of an injury.

“Having Joy out was tough,” Coach Rohrbach said, “but we were able to gut it out and get the win.”

Sofi Losure led Leola-Frederick with nine points.

The Knights cap an extremely busy start to the season this evening by hosting Britton-Hecla at 6 p.m. at the Civic Arena. It will be the team’s fifth game in nine days. The boys’ contest will follow.

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN: Kaylee Block 1 0-0 3, Hanna Miller 0 2-4 2, Mallory Miller 5 8-10 19, Chloe Holt 0 1-2 1, Grace Kaiser 2 4-5 8, Chloe Bosma 0 2-4 2. Totals 8 17-25 35.

LEOLA-FREDERICK: Chloe Arneson 1 0-0 3, Lacey Westphal 1 0-0 3, Laura Sumption 2 0-0 5, Sofi Losure 4 1-4 9, Alyx Hoffman 1 0-0 2, Olivia Morlock 2 0-0 4. Totals 11 1-4 26.

Aberdeen Christian 6 15 23 35

Leola-Frederick 7 11 21 26

3-point field goals – Block, M. Miller; Arneson, Sumption. Fouled out – Sumption. Total fouls – Aberdeen Christian 8; Leola-Frederick 17.