MURRAY — With a halftime lead of 24-9 here on Tuesday, it looked like the Murray girls were on their way to a blowout victory over Lamoni in front of a jam-packed crowd.

But, Lamoni amped up its defensive pressure in the second half, and clawed its way back into the ball game, going on a 23-7 run to take its first lead of the game at 32-31 with 4:17 remaining in the game.

“We only gave up nine points in the first half. I was really, really pleased with the way we were playing,” head coach Jerry Shields said. “We were being aggressive, we were passing the ball well on offense. We got a little stagnant there at one point on offense, but we were able to get through that and keep going strong until the half. But then the second half was a different story.”