Austin girls’ basketball opened the game on a 17-4 run and scored 10 unanswered points in the second half on Wednesday to down Albert Lea 65-48 in the Tiger Classic finals at Albert Lea High School.

The Packers made 14 of 17 free throws and were led in scoring by Babaye Oja’s 19 points and Merideth Fritz’s 14.

Bryn Woodside led the Tigers with 13 points and four rebounds, and Sydney Rehnelt chipped in 10 points.

After falling behind by 13 points just over four minutes into the game, the Tigers pulled back within six with 6 1/2 minutes left in the first half. The Packers answered with six straight points and the Tigers were never closer than 11 the rest of the way.

“We haven’t played in the finals since 2007 so I was glad we made it there,” said Tigers assistant coach Cassie Gorman, who filled in for head coach Sean Gillam who was out due to illness. “We came out wanting it. We just didn’t execute very well.”

The Packers, who beat Kingsland 56-43 on Tuesday to reach the finals, gave the Tigers’ backcourt fits with a fullcourt press to open the game. A steal and layup by Oja gave Austin a 6-0 lead and forced Gorman to call a timeout 1:41 into the game.

Oja knocked down two free throws out of the timeout and scored eight of the Packers’ first 10 points before a 3-pointer by Woodside ended the run. The Tigers’ Tiffany Johnson made a free throw to pull Albert Lea within 13-4 but a 3-pointer by Fritz and another steal and layup by Oja gave the Packers’ its 17-4 lead.

Six different Tigers scored as Albert Lea went on a 12-7 run to pull within 24-16, but Austin scored 15 of the half’s final 25 points to lead 39-26 at the break.

Albert Lea’s Brittani Zuniga scored the first four points of the second half before Austin used a 10-0 run to extend its lead to 49-30.

Woodside hit two floating jumpshots and Rehnelt and Ashley Tewes made 3’s to turn a 10-2 run into a 51-40 deficit, but Austin held Albert Lea to just eight points over the final seven minutes en route to the 18-point win.

The championship win was Austin’s second over the Tigers this season. The Packers won 57-51 at Albert Lea on Dec. 13.

“Austin shot very well,” Gorman said of Wednesday’s game. “We just didn’t put down a lot of shots and some of the execution things as far as defensively, offensively, we didn’t do that quite as well, either.”

The Tigers play again at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 6 vs. Mankato West at Albert Lea High School.

Austin 65, Albert Lea 48

Austin 39 26 — 65

Albert Lea 26 22 — 48

Albert Lea stats: Sam Reim 2 points, 1 rebound; Ashley Tewes 6 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds; Lindsey Stewart 1 assist, 1 rebound; Dominique Villarreal 2 points, 1 assist, 4 rebounds; McKenzie Zuniga 1 rebound; Bryn Woodside 13 points, 4 rebounds; Sydney Rehnelt 10 points, 1 assist, 3 rebounds; Brittani Zuniga 5 points, 3 rebounds; Nya Chan 4 points, 1 assist, 8 rebounds; Tiffany Johnson 6 points, 6 rebounds.