If the Albert Lea girls’ basketball team could have a mulligan, they would definitely use it after Friday’s game against Owatonna. The Huskies beat the Tigers 49-34. The loss puts the girls at (3-3) overall.

“That was a sloppy game,” Tigers coach Lindsey Hugstad-Vaa said. “Our turnovers were 21 in the first half and 15 in the second half. That’s  ridiculous. You should have about 15 per game.”

The first half started with both teams playing poorly, missing shots and turning the ball over. The Huskies stepped it up enough to get a lead while the Tigers’ struggles continued in the first half. Sydney Rehnelt kept the Tigers within six points at the half scoring 10 of her 12 points in the first half. The score at the end of the first half was 20-14 with Owatonna heading into the second half with the lead.

“I felt like they weren’t themselves. The press might have taken us out of our game a little bit, but we didn’t come back and be patient and wait for good shots,” Hugstad-Vaa said.

The Tigers opened up the second half with a 7-4 run to get them to within three points of Owatonna. The Huskies then pressured the Tigers into more turnovers and went on a 18-2 run to put this game out of reach for the Tigers. The score with about 6 minutes to go in the game was 42-23 in favor of the Huskies.

The Huskies didn’t play very well either, giving the Tigers many opportunities to  mount a comeback.

“And we didn’t take advantage of them,” Hugstad-Vaa said of the opportunities given to them.

The Tigers would manage to dig into the lead a few times but could never get a rhythm going to make a run at the Huskies. Megan Kortan did have eight straight points for the Tigers in the second half, which was all of Kortan’s scoring on the night. The final score ended up 49-34 with the Huskies winning it.

“We were getting good shots, they just weren’t falling for us tonight,” Hugstad-Vaa said. “There were some uncharacteristic turnovers that the kids that don’t normally turn the ball over, did.”

The Tigers will host Rochester Mayo on Tuesday for their next game.

AL stats: Sydney Rehnelt 12 points, 1 assist, 2 rebounds, 2 steals;  Dominique Villareal 8 points, 10 rebounds, 1 steal; Megan Kortan 8 points, 1 assist, 9 rebounds, 1 steal; Bryn Woodside 4 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals; McKenzie Zuniga 2 points, 1 rebound; Linsay Stewart 1 assist, 2 rebounds, 1 steal; Grace Gjersvik 1 assist; Sarah Neibuhr 1 assist, 3 rebounds.