Photo by Samantha Davis. Minneota senior Nevaeh Hennen drives to the basket in the first half against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Monday evening in the Camden Conference Championship. The Vikings fell to the Fighting Saints 82-41.

MINNEOTA — The Minneota girls basketball team was limited to just 20 first-half points and struggled to get offensive momentum going with the trouble of turnovers in its 82-41 loss to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Monday evening in the Camden Conference Championship.

The Vikings faced a 26-point deficit by halftime after a competitive couple of minutes to the start of the game. About midway through the first half, the Fighting Saints went on an explosive run and challenged Minneota’s offense with a zone defense, and the Vikings weren’t able to recover.

“We had a hard time with their zone. Their length just causes problems. Even when we did get it inside, if we didn’t get a shot quick, we were getting doubled and we weren’t kicking out well enough,” Minneota head coach Alan Panka said. “They got an experienced team that most of those kids played a bunch of ball last year, so we knew they’d be solid.”

Jaylyn Coequyt led the Vikings with 19 points and six rebounds. Kiersyn Hulzebos finished with 6 points, which came from two 3-pointers in the first half. Leah Coequyt also grabbed four rebounds.

Minneota had 20 turnovers and 24 total rebounds on the night, compared to KMS’ 15 turnovers and 32 rebounds.

Minneota and KMS also met in last year’s Camden Conference title game in Kerkhoven, which the Vikings won 75-60.

Minneota and KMS previously met on Jan. 16, also in the Vikings’ Gym, in a close battle, but the Vikings fell just short 60-53.

“They were missing some people the last time we played them there. They had some sickness going through the team the last time,” Panka said. “That makes a big difference … We knew they’d be hungry.”

The first few minutes of the game were basket-for-basket, and both teams played in a zone defense.

The game was scoreless for the first two minutes until Hulzebos drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key. KMS went up for a layup after driving the lane right after to get the night started.

Hulzebos had 6 of Minneota’s first 10 points, as she dribbled up the ball up the court and hit another 3 to put the Vikings up early, 10-6.

KMS however, didn’t wait long before exploding on a run and putting the tempo of the game in its favor.

KMS took a 14-10 advantage with the help of two straight 3-pointers, and emerged on a 15-2 run to grow its lead to 29-12 midway through the first half.

Turnovers became a struggle for Minneota during the run, and it couldn’t quite get control back of the court. Overthrown passes and KMS’s zone defense continued to fluster the Vikings.

Minneota found a few answers on offense to the zone, by passing the ball around the perimeter before feeding it into an open Coequyt at the left elbow, who hit a string of shots from the spot.

The Fighting Saints’ lead eventually grew to 20 points at 38-18, and they finished the half on a 8-2 run to put the Vikings down 46-20 heading into the locker room.

Coequyt had 10 of Minneota’s first 20 points.

“We got a couple offensive rebounds that didn’t go, and it was just their length that caused us some problems,” Panka said. “We missed a few easy ones [shots], and that kind of snowballed.”

Minneota had a handful of positive plays and good looks throughout the second half, however KMS continued to shoot at a faster, more efficient pace to limit the Vikings’ chances at a comeback.

Minneota shot 24% from the field, making 15 of 62 attempts. KMS shot 50%, going 29 for 58. The Fighting Saints also had eight 3-pointers to the Vikings’ three.

Acelynn Hacker was the Fighting Saints’ offensive spark, who continued to hit deep shots throughout the night.

Hacker finished with a game-high 25 points behind five 3’s.

The game went to running clock the last few minutes and carried through to the final buzzer.

Monday was also Minneota’s final home game of the season, marking Nevaeh Hennen, Claire Rost, Hadli Krog and Hulzebos’ last time playing in the Vikings’ gym.

“Kiersyn has led us, taken care of the ball, gets us in our offense and defense. She was the one that had the most experience returning this year and has been a great leader for us. [Claire] hustles, does things right, plays good defense and gets rebounds,” Panka said. Nevaeh as well … She’s had some big games for us, and hopefully we can have a few more out of her come playoff time. Hadley is just steady, she does what she’s supposed to do. It was nice to have an extra bonus game here to play one more game for their fans and families.”

Minneota (16-11) next heads into the Section 3A Tournament, looking to return to the section title game for a second straight year. The Vikings fell in last year’s championship to Southwest Minnesota Christian, 58-38.

The Vikings were awarded the North Division’s third seed this year, and will first face Lac qui Parle Valley on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Montevideo High School. The two previously met in the regular season on Jan. 21, where Minneota came away with a 59-44 win.

“It’s a team where we went up there earlier in the year. We were down a couple at halftime, and we didn’t play a very good first half. Then in the second half, we made a couple adjustments and played a lot better,” Panka said. “Hopefully, we can come out with that mindset right away and not be trailing at halftime. They’ll be tough.”