Photo by Jake McNeill Russell-Tyler-Ruthton guard Gabi Borresen catches a pass along the perimeter during a girls basketball game against Central Minnesota Christian at Southwest Minnesota State on Thursday afternoon.

MARSHALL — Heading into Day 2 of the Holiday Classic at Southwest Minnesota State University, the Central Minnesota Christian girls basketball team had won each of its last three games by more than 30 points while Russell-Tyler-Ruthton had won three of their last four games by at least 25 points. On Thursday, it was the Bluejays’ momentum that prevailed as CMC pulled away early to claim a 60-42 victory.

Madi Burns hit a pair of 3-pointers as the shot clock expired on each of the Knights’ first two possessions to give RTR a quick 6-3 lead. The Bluejays tied up the game with a free throw followed by a layup by Allow Nelson gave RTR an 8-6 lead with a pair of free throws of her own. That was the last lead RTR held in the game.

Nelson finished as the Knights’ leading scorer in the game with 12 points while Madi Burns added another 11 points behind three 3-pointers. Nelson also tied Gabi Borresen with a team-high three assists.

CMC converted an and-1 in transition to take the lead and hit a 3-pointer and a layup on the two subsequent possessions to grab a 14-8 lead. Shae O’Leary ended the five-minute scoring drought for the Knights with a 3-pointer of her own but CMC responded with an 11-0 scoring run to take complete control of the game.

“I talked to them about getting those good open looks and taking them when they’re available and sometimes we passed them up,” RTR head coach Steven Hesse said. “They ran a little bit different 2-3 [zone defense], it was tough on us and we kind of clamped down on that. We quit attacking on that. We’ve got to get more aggressive and that comes with experience sometimes.”

Nelson interrupted CMC’s scoring run with a post fade but the Bluejays came back with a 3-pointer on the other end and only continued to pile on. They closed the half with a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to capture their largest lead of the half, 42-20.

“They did find a rhythm. I don’t know what they shot in terms of shooting percentage but it had to be pretty good,” Hesse said. “I think at halftime, we weren’t down that many rebounds by any means but the ones that we do miss, they got the second opportunities. When you’re right around the rim, that makes your shooting percentage go up quite a bit.”

Turnovers were a major factor in the Bluejays’ ability to pull away. While CMC turned the ball over just seven times, RTR finished with 22 turnovers as a team. Nelson finished the game with a pair of steals to help the Knights in the turnover battle but it wasn’t enough to shift the momentum.

The Knights were able to cut the deficit down to as few as 15 points in the second half before the Bluejays began to extend the gap again. CMC eclipsed the first-half margin by building a 23-point lead with 11 minutes remaining and went on to lead by as many as 27 before subbing out its starters.

The Knights have been on both sides of plenty of one-sided games. Win or loss, every game except their season-opener against Dawson-Boyd was decided by 25 or more points.

“We’ve just got to work together as a team all the time. We let some second-chance opportunities, there’s some things that we need to work on. There are some continuing things, it’s about breaking some bad habits. Once we break those bad habits, things will turn around,” Hesse said.

Among those bad habits, Hesse said, was the team’s performance on the glass. Nelson grabbed nine rebounds while Dilyn Werkman grabbed another seven. Yet, Madi Burns’ two boards made her the only other Knight with more than one rebound. The Bluejays held just a 17-16 advantage on the defensive glass, but CMC’s 14-8 advantage on the offensive boards was a difference-maker.

“We need to rebound. When the shot goes up… we can’t run away from the ball,” Hesse said. “Sometimes we’re so worried about getting back on defense that we forget about rebounding. We’re getting out and running but we’re forgetting about rebounding first.”

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton falls to 4-3 with the loss. They’ll get back in action with a road matchup against Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s on Friday at 3:30 p.m.