Photo by Jake McNeill: Yellow Medicine East forward Bailey Mortenson (center) beats a group of MACCRAY Wolverines to a loose ball during a 3A North subsection quarterfinal girls basketball game on Saturday afternoon at Montevideo High School.

MONTEVIDEO — Despite a valiant first-half effort, the seventh-seeded Yellow Medicine East girls basketball team didn’t have the firepower to keep pace with No. 2 MACCRAY in the 3A North subsection quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon. The Sting were within 6 points of the Wolverines in the final three minutes of the first half, but MACCRAY went into halftime with momentum and finished with a 76-48 win.

For the bulk of the first half, YME played the Wolverines tight. Facing an 11-point deficit, Bayli Sneller knocked down a 3, came away with a steal near midcourt and hit the layup in transition to cut MACCRAY’s cushion to 22-16.

“We saw what Montevideo did to them… They struggled a bit against that defense, so we put it in and tried to do our best to really get in front of [MACCRAY’s Brielle Janssen] and make other people beat you,” YME head coach Lucas Cristoffer said. “They have so many other weapons as well, so it makes it tough, but we tried to do our best on it.”

The Sting had the opportunity to make it a 4-point game, but when their shot didn’t fall, MACCRAY capitalized. The Wolverines finished the half on a 10-3 run, capped off by a buzzer-beater floater from Emma Thein, to go into halftime with a 32-19 advantage.

Out of halftime, the two teams went scoreless for two-and-a-half minutes before MACCRAY locked in.

The Wolverines scored 8 unanswered points to start the half; after Sneller broke up the run with a 3-pointer, MACCRAY scored another 10 unanswered to bolster their lead up to 49-24.

“Even when we were down 20, I thought we battled hard,” Christoffer said, noting Abbey Bones’ defensive efforts in particular. “You loving coaching girls like that and a team like that, so I thought they did a really good job on it and they were ready to go. They thought we had a chance and if we got hot, I thought we had a chance against them.”

MACCRAY scored the game’s first 3 points over two possessions and eventually expanded its lead to 10-3 before Sneller hit a 3-pointer and the Sting called a timeout. The Wolverines knocked down a trifecta out of the huddle, but back-to-back baskets from Bailey Mortenson made it a 3-point game, 13-10.

As the second half progressed, MACCRAY eventually extended its lead to as many as 34 points.

Yellow Medicine East finishes its season at 9-18, a two-win improvement from the previous year.

The Sting have the opportunity to make another leap next season when they return their full roster except for lone senior Klaira Shackelford.

Christoffer complimented Shackelford’s ability to initiate the offense, noting in particular a game against Wabasso in which she had 7 points, seven assists and seven steals at halftime and another game where she had a dozen assists against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton.

“She’s a good ball player, high basketball IQ and that helps,” Christoffer said.