The Brainerd Warriors had the unbeaten Sartell Sabres on the ropes in the first half before falling 51-46 in a Central Lakes Conference game Saturday at Brainerd High School.
Brainerd led 32-27 at the half but got outscored 24-14 in the second.
"We played really well Thursday night against Fergus Falls, which is ranked 10th (in Class 3A)," Warriors coach Brian McAllister said. "Sartell was ranked fourth (in 3A) and we played really well again.
"We just went cold in the second half. Their big girl (Abigail Whitney) got a few more points in the second half."
Emilee Branum and Allison Mueller each scored 13 points for the Warriors, who lost their fourth straight game.
Sartell, which improved to 7-0 in the CLC, 11-0 overall, is ranked fourth in Class 3A and leads the CLC.
Taylor Guetter led Sartell with 15 points. Abigail Whitney added 10. Morgan Haider and Allie Rengel each scored nine and Ashton Haider eight.
"I told the girls that it's no consolation but we're there," McAllister added. "We're finally playing full games, we're competing from start to finish. We've played two really good games back to back. The bad thing is we've played two really good teams."
Sartell 27 24 - 51
Brainerd 32 14 - 46
SARTELL
Morgan Haider 9, Taylor Guetter 15, Ashton Haider 8, Allie Rengel 9, Abigail Whitney 10. FG 17-42. FT 8-22. Rebounds: 34 (Whitney 9).
BRAINERD
Chloe Miller 2, Kayla Kraemer 4, Carlie Sweet 6, Emilee Branum 13, Alyssa Thoennes 4, Ally Mueller 13, Ashley Tibbetts 2, Jalynn Lamb 2. FG 18-49 (percent). FT 7-9. Rebounds: 27 (Sweet 9, Branum 6, Kraemer 4). Turnovers: 13. Conference: 3-6. Overall: 4-7. Next: host Little Falls 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
