The 10th-seeded Tri-City United Titans turned an early 14-point deficit into a lead at halftime and then ran away from the seventh-seeded Chargers in the second half for a 60-44 win in a Section 2AA Girls Basketball Tournament opener.

The Chargers (15-11) turned their defense into offense for the majority of the first half but hit a rut after that and finished the game shooting 25% from the floor. Meanwhile, the Titans (10-16) shook off a rusty start to finish shooting 31% from the floor while forcing 20 MVL turnovers.

TCU moves on to play at No. 2-seeded Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton at 7 p.m. Thursday in a quarterfinals game.

“We got the full-court game that we wanted early and pressured their guards and made them throw the ball away, but then we got a little tired and we reverted and played a half-court game,” Chargers head coach Craig Morgan said. “That kind of played into their hands, we had to shoot from the outside. We had a few shots that fell, but then they started coming out, we didn’t get inside touches and there’s a reason, they’re pretty dang big inside. Their bigs had a good night and their perimeter people shot well.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Avery Hahn (21) prepares to put up a shot in the paint during a Section 2AA girls basketball playoff opener on Monday night at MVL High School.

Ella Schmiesing was one of TCU’s bigs as the 6-foot freshman led the way with a game-high 17 points and 17 rebounds. Jillian Houn was 3 for 4 from the 3-point line and added 15 points for TCU.

MVL was led by Olivia Hammer, who had 16 points and four rebounds, while Avery Freier had 7 points and four rebounds and Violet Hammer had 7 points. Chargers forward Ziva Zahrt was held to 2 points but led her team on the boards with eight rebounds, while Avery Hahn had 5 points.

MVL looked ready to go early on with a corner 3 by Freier, a free throw from Olivia Hammer and a jumper from Freier giving the Chargers a quick 6-0 start. Ella Schmiesing stole a rebound away after a TCU miss and put it back up while drawing a foul, converting on the and-one to make it a 6-3 game.

Hahn answered inside on the other end on an assist by Ellie Kaisermann before back-to-back 3s by Olivia Hammer put the Chargers up 14-3 and forced a TCU timeout with 12:29 left in the half. TCU got a free throw from Lily Schmiesing out of the timeout, but Violet Hammer canned a 3 to give MVL a 17-6 lead.

After Violet Hammer hit a long corner jumper for a 21-7 Chargers lead, the Titans charged back with a 14-0 run to tie the game. Houn sank a pair of 3s during that run and Ella Schmiesing had the other 8 points in the run.

A Hahn free throw ended the run and put MVL back in front by a point, but a Houn basket gave TCU a lead it never ended up losing as Houn soon buried another 3 for a 26-22 TCU lead.

Hahn got a pair of free throws after that, but the Titans closed the half on a 5-0 run to lead 31-24, with a buzzer-beating layup by Houn bringing an end to the half.

Olivia Hammer gave the Chargers a quick spark to start the second half on a layup, but TCU answered with a 3 from Annika Meier to lead 34-26. A Zahrt bucket was followed by a 7-0 TCU run for a 41-28 Titans lead.

After a bucket inside by Olivia Hammer, the Titans got another 7-0 run to lead 48-30.

The Titans’ largest lead of the game came after a basket from Houn to lead 60-40. A basket from Freier and one off the bench from Adelyn Harstad gave the Chargers their final points and final score.

While Morgan will miss coaching basketball as he retires following the school year, he said the MVL girls learned a lot this season and were a good group to coach during his one year as MVL’s girls basketball head varsity coach.

“It’s a great group of kids,” Morgan said. “I regret that I’ve got to give it up because they were sponges. They worked hard, they listened, they learned and I think they kept improving. We just hit a bump in the road here. They’re a great group and we only lose one [senior] out of there, unfortunately with Nora [Grace Otto], but they’ve got a lot to build on and there’s a lot there for next year.”

Current Martin Luther College Athletic Director Dave Biedenbender will return to MVL and coach the girls varsity team next season.