Photo by Samantha Davis. Lakeview's Brynn Stensrud analyzes the offense in the first half against Central Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A quarterfinals Tuesday night at Montevideo High School. Stensrud finished with 15 points in the Lakers' 55-33 loss. 

MONTEVIDEO — Although putting up a fight and being down one point at the half, the No. 4 Lakeview girls basketball team was outscored by 22 points in the second half of its section quarterfinal matchup against top-seeded Central Minnesota Christian on Tuesday night, falling 55-33.

“The first half is exactly how it had to play. We had to focus on defense and hold them down. We knew we weren’t going to score 60 points on them [CMC],” Lakeview head coach Mike Imes said. “I thought our defense, honestly, all night was good. The second half, we just couldn’t score the ball. We had a few turnovers, and didn’t shoot particularly well … But, I was super proud of our effort today, thought we fought our tails off.”   

Lakeview was down by 1 point at halftime, but CMC’s half-court and zone defense in the second half separated the two teams as the Bluejays took control of the court and ran the rest of the way.  

“They [CMC] are the best defense we play … We knew what we were coming into. They hold teams into the low 30s a lot,” Imes said. “The problem in that second half, our turnovers led to fast break plays, rather in the first half when we turned it over, it was a dead ball. We could get back and play deep, so that hurt us … But, we fought our way right to the end.” 

Brynn Stensrud finished with a team-high 15 points, 12 of which came in the first half. Anah Schmidt tallied six rebounds, while Brook Gunlogson led with three steals. 

Lakeview committed 24 turnovers and was limited to a 24% field goal shooting mark and went 4 of 21 at the 3-point line. 

Upon receiving the fourth seed in the North’s division, Lakeview defeated No. 5 Canby in the tournament’s second round 63-52, while Central Minnesota Christian eliminated No. 8 Renville County West 77-38. 

The Lakers and Bluejays met once before Tuesday in the regular season on Jan. 21, where Lakeview suffered a 66-31 loss. 

Lakeview erased an early double-digit deficit when it found itself down 21-11 after the Bluejays took advantage of a few turnovers, but the Lakers battled back to head into the locker room down by a point at 23-22. Both teams switched between man-to-man and zone defense through the night. 

“The cool part was, we got down 21-11, down 10, and look how hard we fought to get back,” Imes said. “That game could have been over with six minutes to go in the first half, and our girls really started fighting hard.” 

Stensrud, who was assessed two fouls in the game’s first four minutes, went on an 8-0 run herself behind two consecutive 3-pointers and a jump shot at the free throw line beating the shot-clock buzzer to tie the game up at 22. 

“Brynn is a little warrior, she is very offensive-minded … What the general public doesn’t see is the hours she puts in outside of basketball. She put up over 30,000 shots last summer on her own,” Imes said. “Her heart is 100% basketball, to watch her drive is contagious … Brynn is the definition of a hard worker. She’s our offensive identity, and does a lot of great things.” 

CMC was put at the line with three seconds left in the first half, and made one to give the Bluejays their 1-point lead. 

Aubreigh Rausch opened the second half with a field goal to put Lakeview up, yet CMC’s Maddy Vander Ark responded with a basket of her own. 

Stensrud kept her hot hand going with another 3-pointer to put the Lakers up 27-25. 

CMC turned its dial up even more on defense to power a run to begin to pull away midway through the second half, starting to put pressure on Lakeview with the clock running down. 

The Bluejays had a few successful steals and fast break layups, primarily from sophomore guard Sienna Duininck, and a 3-pointer gave them a 39-27 advantage. Duinink finished with a game-high 29 points.

CMC also played in a half-court defense before falling into its zone. 

Lakeview struggled to find a response to stop as CMC continued on its run to a 51-29 lead with four minutes to go and went scoreless for several minutes. 

CMC’s defense forced a handful of Lakeview turnovers through the night, forcing hands where it could.

To help get around the defense along with Stensrud’s shooting, Lakeview was able to successfully find Schmidt, 6-foot-1, inside at the low post for a few buckets. 

Lakeview wasn’t able to erase the deficit and get back within reach to keep its season going. 

Lakeview ends its season 19-9 overall, an improvement from last year’s 17-11 run. It graduates five seniors in Megan Schwartz, Aubreigh Rausch, Savanna Louwagie, Carmen Varpness and Aleiah Rosenau. 

“This senior group has taken us from three wins their freshman year, five wins their second year, and now 17 to 19 … I’m going to miss them all. They’re just amazing kids,” Imes said. “The leadership they’ve provided our program is something that now, the baton has been passed. There’s a huge new level of what it takes to be a Lady Laker … They’re just a really great group to be around. I’m forever grateful.”