SIOUX FALLS – O’Gorman scored the first eight points out of the break during a 52-38 defeat of Brookings in a District 1AA girls’ basketball semifinal Monday night.

“The first 2 minutes of the third quarter were the difference in the game,” said Bobcat coach Lynn Frederick. “Obviously we had the ball first; we missed a wide open 3, they hit a 3. We came back and had a couple bad decisions with the basketball, they scored twice and boom – it goes from a two-point game to a (nine-point) game.”

Ashlee Beacom hit a trey to open the spurt as the Lady Knights scored seven points in a 2-minute span, leading to a Bobcat timeout. Kendyl Kreber added a free throw to cap the run, making it 31-21.

Brookings broke the scoreless streak with a bucket at the 3:48 mark of the third quarter.

OG was up 35-27 through three.

“We battled, we cut it to six or seven, but we just couldn’t get over the hump,” added Frederick. “They’re a good defensive team. They’re a hard team to play from behind because they’re well coached and they’re patient. And obviously they were trying to take advantage of some mismatches.”

O’Gorman’s Awoti Akoi, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, scored 16 points – 12 of which came in the first half.

Beacom put in nine of her 13 points after halftime. Emma Ronsiek added six of her 10 points in the second half.

The Lady Knights were ahead 11-7 after 8 minutes, but the Bobcats had all the answers in the second stanza – including a 6-1 run to close the half that cut the deficit to 23-21 at intermission.

“I thought we had great days of preparation and I thought the first half was excellent,” Frederick said. “We probably should have been ahead at halftime. I thought our man-to-man was good – we were just missing a few little pieces at times in terms of timing, but other than that it was pretty good.”

Michaela Jewett had a strong opening half, scoring 12 of her team-high 16 points over that stretch.

Baylee Tetzlaff finished with eight points, Peyton Evans six and Carolyn Hieb five.

“I thought if we could have done a little better job offensively, shown a little more poise in certain situations – also just a little more aggressiveness at times with some isos and some one-on-one things,” Frederick noted. “Overall, I think we’re pleased with how we played, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. Offensively, we just need to be a little more consistent in certain areas. I think if we take care of that, we’ll be all right.”

Roosevelt handled Watertown 66-33 in Sioux Falls in the other District 1AA semi.

On Thursday, the Rough Riders (16-5) play host to the Lady Knights (10-11) in the championship and the Bobcats (8-13) welcome the Arrows (5-16) in the third-place matchup. Both games tip off at 7 p.m.