The first half started about as well as the Alden-Conger girls’ basketball team could have asked for, but as the game progressed the interior defense and ballhandling grew sloppier for the Knights.

Alden-Conger gave up numerous second chance points to Blooming Prairie in the second half and didn’t rebound like it did in the first half. It all added up to a 48-44 loss to the Blossoms in Alden.

The Knights (5-4) ran out to an 18-5 lead midway through the first half, but a 15-4 run by Blooming Prairie made it a 22-20 game at halftime.

In the second half the Blossoms used the momentum from the end of the first half to start the second on a 16-7 run to build a 36-29 lead with less than 10 minutes to play.

“We played well in the first half, just towards the end of the first half we got careless and we took too many quick shots,” said Alden-Conger head coach Gary Newman.

Whitney Burt helped Blooming Prairie get back in the game with her rebounding and scoring. Burt hauled in weak side rebounds throughout the second half and finished with a game-high 20 points.

“We weren’t boxing out well on the weak side and we talked about that,” Newman said. “I called a couple of timeouts and pointed it out. It just didn’t happen.”

While Burt helped control the interior, Jordan Noble hit shots from the perimeter for the Blossoms. Noble finished with 11 points for Blooming Prairie.

After controlling the glass in the first half the Blossoms limited Knights senior Katie Hallman to just three rebounds in the second half. Hallman had 10 in the first half and led Alden-Conger with 17 points.

Alden-Conger attempted 32 free throws, but made just 14 and squandered chances down the stretch to close the gap.

Turnovers also played a role in the final minutes as the Knights committed three in the final 1:30.

Allyssa Maras scored seven points for the Knights while Ariel Keller added five. Emily Bremseth and Anna Skov each had four points and Amber Erickson one point.

Alden-Conger travels to LeRoy-Ostrander Tuesday.

Blooming Prairie 48, Alden-Conger 44

Blooming Prairie 20 28 — 48

Alden-Conger 22 22 — 44

Blooming Prairie scoring: Whitney Burt 20, Jordan Noble 11, Yasmine Smith 5, Taylor Jones 5, Marie Morem 3, Janelle Morem 2, Erica Manke 2.

Alden-Conger scoring: Katie Hallman 17, Allyssa Maras 7, Ariel Keller 6, Kenzie Martin 5, Emily Bremseth 4, Anna Skov 4, Amber Erickson 1.