After a well-matched first half, too many turnovers hurt the Tigers in the end.

The Mankato East girls’ basketball team defeated Albert Lea 58-25 Thursday at Albert Lea High School.

The Tigers (1-12 overall, 0-10 Big Nine Conference) only trailed the Cougars (5-9, 3-8) by 12 points at halftime.

Sophomore guard Rachel Rehnelt led the Tigers’ offense with 17 points. She also grabbed three rebounds and a steal.

Albert Lea coach Gina Klennert said both Rehnelt and senior guard Katie Rasmussen performed well for the Tigers. She added that Rasmussen has been consistently playing hard all season, and said that stats don’t always reflect player contributions.

“You can’t ask for a kid to play any harder than that,” she said. “Defensively we came out very strong.”

Klennert said the team was struggled with lack of height in Thursday’s game, and said its 31 turnovers took a toll, as well.

“Our overall lack of size played right into East’s hands,” she said. “We definitely need to look at protecting the ball.”

Next, Albert Lea hosts Faribault at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in another Big Nine matchup. The Falcons (6-7, 3-7) are coming off of a 49-38 loss to Northfield (8-6, 6-4) Tuesday. Northfield previously defeated Albert Lea 65-23 Dec. 1.