“This feels very good, especially just like [there have been] some ups and downs throughout the season, and obviously it wasn’t like the best game we’ve played, but it was good to just come together as a team and get one, and we’re excited to move on,” TMB sophomore Gretchen Lanoue said. “It wasn’t pretty, but it was definitely a grind and we really just pushed ourselves. I feel like we all worked very hard.”

TMB flipped the switch from the first to the second half on the defensive end and showed fight the entire way through, as the shots followed and began to fall.

After a competitive first half built of runs by both teams, TMB entered the second half facing a 5-point deficit, 25-20, looking to clean up its turnover troubles that were apparent in the opening half.

“They [TMB] fought hard all night long, it was impressive to see. We just didn’t always have it directed in the right place. We weren’t always executing things that we needed to execute. I thought we did a better job, especially early in the second half, of executing things defensively, especially in our full-court press,” TMB head coach Derek Ashbaugh said.

Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's Taylor Munson beats her defender and takes a few dribbles toward the basket in the first half against Southwest Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A play-in Thursday night in Tracy.

“As the game carried on, I think defensively, we switched some defenses, but I think the girls did a pretty good job with that. I think both teams would be comfortable saying that they missed some opportunities tonight, but thankfully, we played good enough defensively that we were able to come out on top.”

Tension was high and only grew stronger by the minute as the Panthers and Eagles traded baskets throughout the second half.

A TMB steal led to a 29-29 tie with 11:53 to play, as the Panthers worked to earn back a few offensive possessions after turning the tables from the first half to force SWMC turnovers.

“I feel like we did alright at times [with fixing turnovers]. There were sometimes we just got sped up, and all season, we just try to work on calming down,” Lanoue said.

TMB was also in the bonus with still 11 minutes to play after SWMC was called for its seventh foul, while the Panthers played a relatively clean game and had just one at the time.

Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's Melaina Ankrum looks to drive to the paint in the first half against Southwest Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A play-in Thursday night in Tracy.

Melaina Ankrum ignited the crowd and Panthers’ bench after hitting a crucial 3-pointer with just over six minutes to play for a 36-31 lead, after Lanoue broke a tie following a steal and fastbreak layup a few possessions prior.

The Panthers ultimately never lost sight of their lead from there, and although struggling at the free throw line, they held off the Eagles’ final late push in the waning minutes to take care of business.

TMB finished the night shooting 10 of 28 from the foul line.

Baskets from Lanoue and Allie Adams gave TMB the 41-33 lead with about three minutes to go, which was enough to hang on the rest of the way.

SWMC brought the score back within 4 points, 42-37, following back-to-back drives, but time expired with less than a minute to play along with Taylor Munson and Lanoue making a few late free throws to keep the Panthers’ season alive and advance to the next round.

Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's Gretchen Lanoue drives toward the basket in the first half against Southwest Minnesota Christian in the Section 3A play-in Thursday night in Tracy.

Ankrum led the charge with 14 points and four steals to her four assists and nine rebounds, while Lanoue finished with a double-double of 10 points and a team-high 10 rebounds and six assists. Adams and Alli Dolan each added 6 points as well.

“I liked how we rebounded in the first half, and then the second half was not that good. I’d love to see our turnovers be dropped in half roughly, and then maybe shoot a little better from the free throw line,” Ashbaugh said. “We’ve been shooting better from the free throw line the last couple of weeks, hopefully this was just a blip, but who knows. We’ll have plenty of things to work on for sure, with one day to do it.”

The Eagles got off to a 5-0 start to open the night after scoring on the first possession of the game with a driving layup followed by a 3-pointer.

TMB and SWMC both applied a full-court press from the jump to set the competitive tone straight away.

Elsie Knott first got TMB on the board with a layup after the Panthers ran a patient offensive set that circled the perimeter.

Dolan drilled in a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers to help TMB embark on a 12-0 run to take a 12-5 lead, capped with two free throws from Lanoue.

In response, SWMC put together an 8-0 run to take back a 13-12 edge, and were also efficient from deep throughout the first half.

The Eagles maintained their lead through the final minutes of the half, to head into the break up by 5 points.

TMB was assigned the eight-seed after finishing the regular season 8-18, as did SWMC with the ninth seed going 5-21 overall.

The Panthers and Eagles had also met three weeks prior toward the end of the regular season on Jan. 29, with TMB coming away with a 61-53 victory.

“Obviously, we were one seed higher than them, but we just tried to not use that and we didn’t overlook them,” Lanoue said regarding the team’s approach to Thursday. “We really prepared in practice, and we really locked in on that. We just prepared like it’s another game.”

TMB (9-18) will next take on the South’s top-seeded team in Hills-Beaver Creek (23-3) in the subsection quarterfinals on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Worthington High School, who also met in the same place in last year’s sections.

“It’s strictly survive and advance at this point,” Ashbaugh said. “We made it, we can enjoy this for tonight, and tomorrow is full-on prep and get ready for a fantastic team … We’ll have our work cut out for us, but we’re playing, so we got to be happy about that.”

HBC and TMB met most recently on Feb. 7, resulting in a Patriots’ 67-49 win.

“I think that’s the biggest thing [going into Saturday], is knowing that we have that fight,” Lanoue said. “Knowing that we can really do what we set our mind to and not going into it like we are going to lose. We need to believe that we’re going to win, and we can do it.”