A trio of scorers in double figures wasn’t enough to keep the NRHEG girls’ basketball team’s postseason hopes alive.

Marnie Wagner had 11 points and 16 rebounds, Rachel Collins scored a team-high 14 points and Maddie Wagner added 11 points, but the Panthers lost 60-48 against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Thursday in the Subsection 2AA South semifinals at Mankato East.

“Offensively we got off the shots that we wanted, but we couldn’t make a basket,” said NRHEG coach Onika Peterson. “We tried to run and push the ball down the floor, but it is hard to run when they make their shots.”

The postseason meeting was the third time the Panthers and Buccaneers played each other this season.

NRHEG (14-12, 9-3 Gopher) won 60-51 on Jan. 9 at Waterville, and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (19-8, 8-4 Gopher) won 64-53 on Feb. 6 at New Richland.

The Panthers finished second in the Gopher Conference standings, and the Bucs were third.

No. 10 Blooming Prairie (22-4, 12-0 Gopher) won the conference title.

NRHEG had four seniors who played their final high school game: Anna Stork, Ryann Hagen, Kelli Harrington and Jade Peterson.

After winning back-to-back state championships and posting a 95-2 record over the last three seasons, NRHEG started the season with a 1-3 record.

However, the Panthers bounced back with a six-game winning streak from Jan. 16 to Feb. 2 to get back on track.

“I am very happy with how much progress we made as a team throughout the season,” Peterson said. “Tonight just wasn’t our night. WEM played a great game, and I wish them the best of luck next week.”

The Bucs advanced to play St. Peter (22-5, 7-5 Big South) in the subsection finals at 6 p.m. Monday at Minnesota State University, Mankato.