BROOKINGS — A strong start for Sioux Falls Washington on Tuesday night led to the Warriors beating Brookings 50-31 at Bob Jostad Gymnasium.

The Warriors (11-1) led 12-0 just over six minutes into the game and the Bobcats (8-5) never recovered. Brookings head coach Mitch McLagan said it was a matter of makes and misses in the first quarter.

“I think we let their length really bother us. Again, they’re a really good basketball team. I thought we got some really good early looks but just couldn’t get shots to fall. That first couple minutes they went on a 9-0 run and we had some good looks but the shots didn’t fall. And then they beat us in transition a couple times,” McLagan said.

The Bobcats trailed 14-3 at the end of the first quarter. Brookings then opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run. The Bobcats cut the lead to 19-15 at the midway point of the quarter but then were outscored 13-2 in the final four minutes and trailed 32-17 at halftime.

Brookings was down 34-20 with just under six minutes left in the third and used an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 36-28. The back half of the third quarter was similar to the second as the Bobcats were outscored 8-0 and trailed 44-28 heading into the fourth.

“I was happy with the way our kids responded to that tough start,” McLagan said. “We kind of got punched in the mouth early and fought back. We went on a nice little run and then late in the second quarter they opened up that lead a bit. Our end of the quarters were not very good tonight. We had some bad turnovers at the end of quarters and they converted them into points.”

The Bobcats were outscored 7-6 in the final quarter.

Brookings shot 28.2% from the field and was 6-of-17 from three. The Bobcats had 23 turnovers and McLagan said fatigue plays a factor when Brookings struggles on offense.

“Some of [the offensive struggles come from] fatigue and some of it is mental fatigue I think. We forget our plan. There were a few times where we didn’t get into our press break and we got fatigued and made the tough pass instead of the easy pass and the turnovers add up in those situations,” McLagan said.

The Bobcats were led by Logan Smidt who had nine points. Sloan McLagan had five points and Tess Burns had four. Macy Even had three points and six rebounds.

Sioux Falls Washington shot 37.3% from the field and was 2-of-16 from three. Dana Harpe led the Warriors with 16 points and eight rebounds. Grace Peterson had 11 points and Rylan Kennett had nine points and six rebounds.

The Warriors had 40 rebounds and the Bobcats had 23. Brookings was 6-of-8 at the free throw line and Sioux Falls Washington was 11-of-17.

The Bobcats had won four-straight games entering Tuesday night. That was after they had lost four in-a-row after starting the season 4-0. McLagan said he feels like his team is heading in the right direction as it begins the final month of the regular season.

“Overall I was happy with the way we competed tonight,” McLagan said. “That’s a team that we want to be competing with come March. … We started the season 4-0 and then we lost four in-a-row, and we played two really good teams in [that stretch] and we did not compete very well.

“We’ve played really good basketball the past two weeks and tonight, I thought we were really close. [Washington] is a team that is competing to win a state title and I thought if a couple possessions here and there went our way [the result could have been different]. That was our goal. Make it a game in the fourth quarter and see if we could do something. Tonight it wasn’t in the cards, but I thought we took a step in the right direction.”

Brookings hosts Sioux Falls Lincoln on Thursday. Tip off between the Bobcats and the Patriots is scheduled for 7 p.m.