The Prior Lake girls basketball team opened the New Year with a solid South Suburban Conference road win.

Senior McKenna Hofschild scored a game-high 28 points in leading the Lakers to 73-57 victory at Lakeville South Jan. 4.

Prior Lake (6-5 overall, 2-2 in the SSC) went into the game going 3-0 in the Holiday Hoops Classic at St. Olaf College in Northfield Dec. 27-29. The Lakers beat two Class 3A teams — 79-50 over Northfield and 76-54 over Grand Rapids and one Class 1A team, 97-73 over BOLD.

Prior Lake will return home Jan. 8 to take on No. 4-ranked Farmington in SSC play at 7 p.m. The Tigers and Shakopee lead the SSC with 4-0 marks.

In beating Lakeville South, the Lakers led 40-33 at the break. Junior Haidyn Pitsch and sophomore Emily Kuldstad were also in double figures with 16 and 13 points, respectively.

Junior Ella Schnackenberg and sophomore Tatum Brostrom each had six points, while sophomore Kate Trachsel chipped in four.

In the three games at St. Olaf, Hofschild finished with 22, 25 and 26 points, respectively, to lead the Lakers. She leads the team in scoring through 11 games at 27.9 points per contest.

Pitsch is also averaging in double figures at 12.8 points per game. She had a season-high 25 points in beating BOLD. Kulstad is average 9.5 points, including a season-high 14 against Northfield.