MADISON — For the second time in 13 days, the Chargers got the best of the Orioles.

Class A No. 2 Hamlin defeated Class A No. 3 Lennox, 45-42, in the final game of the girls Dak-XII/NEC Clash in Madison on Feb. 7.

The Chargers had already knocked off Lennox less than two weeks ago on Jan. 26 in a 59-57 win in Hayti.

“It’s always tough to play a team twice and especially a team as quality as Lennox,” said Hamlin head coach Tim Koisti. “They’ve got a great coaching staff and do a really nice job of putting different defenses at us but I thought our kids did a really good job of handling the ball pressure they were able to put on with their length and attacking.”

The top-five sequel came down to the wire once again. The Chargers held a 33-30 advantage halfway through the fourth quarter, but continued to fight off an Oriole surge. Hamlin went on a 6-2 run over the next three and a half minutes but Lennox continued to stay in it, pulling within three following a Libby Kranz three-pointer.

“The biggest message was ‘We’re still ahead,’ ” said Koisti on the message coming down the stretch. “I thought we did a really good job of getting the ball into the hands of our two best free throw shooters. That’s what you want to do, is put it in their hands and let them win the game for us which is what they did.”

Hamlin scored just three baskets in the fourth quarter but kept a lead shooting 12-of-15 from the charity stripe alone. Senior point guard Addison Neuendorf hit 7-of-8 attempts in the fourth quarter alone to keep the Chargers ahead, finishing 11-for-12 from the free throw line for the game.

“We knew coming in it was going to be a tough game just because we had played them a couple weeks ago,” Neuendorf said of the win. “We knew they were going to come in with full force so we had to be ready but I think it was a good team win. We played hard and we played together.”

The Chargers totaled just nine fouls in 32 minutes of basketball compared to Lennox’s 24. And for a squad that usually runs a six-player rotation, Kositi said the team’s ability to stay out of foul trouble was a huge factor in the win.

“We don’t have a ton of depth so our kids just have to be smart and they do a pretty good job of, even when they pick up one or two fouls early, I’ve got a lot of trust in their instincts and they know that,” Koisti said. “The biggest thing is we play as a team so that when I do get beat off the dribble, I don’t have to foul because I know my teammate is going to be there to help.”

And for a rematch between two of the teams in Class A girls basketball, the biggest takeaway for Hamlin was rebounding and defense.

“Their length, you can’t really see that on film, but they’re long and athletic and they can run,” Koisti said of Lennox. “They just rebound so well, and so one of things we took away from that game was we got to rebound so they can’t get those second chance opportunities.”

“Going into the first game we knew the two things we needed to do was box out, rebound and just play solid defense but we didn’t box out as well as we should’ve so tonight after the first quarter, Koisti laid into us a little bit and said ‘If you box out and play good D, you’re going to win this game.’ ”

A back-and-forth first half concluded tied at 17 with neither team gaining more than a five-point advantage. The Chargers took a 24-19 lead late in the third before an Oriole three-pointer sparked a 5-0 run. Neuendorf connected from long range at the third quarter buzzer to give Hamlin the lead heading to the fourth.

But Neuendorf said it was the physical and smart defense the Chargers played throughout the game to push Hamlin to victory.

“We don’t go very deep into our bench so we know that we have to play straight up with our hands,” Neuendorf said. “We kind of force them to take hard shots knowing if they’re going to make tough two’s on us, that’s what we have to live with.”

Neuendorf finished with 19 points in the win, Issie Steffensen added 13 points, Adalyn Jensen netted six points while Paige Stormo collected five points.

The Orioles were led by Andie Peters with 15 points, Kranz totaled eight points and six rebounds while Bergen Musser had six points and five boards in the loss.

It’s now the third ranked win for the Chargers this season, but the schedule doesn’t get any easier. The Chargers still face three more teams ranked in Class A girls basketball before the postseason, starting with No. 8 Aberdeen Roncalli on Feb. 10.

“We’ve got a really tough schedule and we do that so we can be prepared for that next level,” Koisti said. “These wins are huge because, especially with seed points, 50-point wins are really big to keep us moving up to stay No. 1 in our region or possibly stay towards the top of the state. It just makes everything to get to the state tournament that much easier.”