HURON – Warner got Colman-Egan’s attention, and then ended up getting the Hawks’ best effort when it mattered most Thursday night.

Colman-Egan lost a double-digit lead, refocused, and claimed a 49-44 victory during a Class B SoDak 16 girls’ basketball game at the Huron Arena.

“Hats off to them. They were prepared and they played physical,” said Colman-Egan coach Josh Flatten. “There were a couple of points in the game where I feel like we were right about ready to break it open, and they fought right back and didn’t let us run away, and it kind of threw us for a little bit of a loop.”

After trailing 25-13 in the second quarter, the Monarchs regrouped at halftime and outscored Colman-Egan 18-9 in the third quarter, eventually grabbing a 36-34 lead on 3-pointers from reserves Tatum Hanson and Brynn Hill.

“I think we just gave it our all and knew we couldn’t give up,” said Warner’s Jaycee Jung, who led the team with 12 points.

However, that lead was short-lived because by the start of the fourth quarter, Colman-Egan reinserted senior point guard Brynlee Landis, who sat out half of the third quarter after picking up her fourth foul.

“They came back out and they were pumped up and fired up, and had all their starters back in,” said Warner coach Tina Winter. “She makes a difference and unfortunately, we just couldn’t get her back out again.”

While Landis scored just four of her game-high 20 points in the final period, her presence on the floor brought stability to a team that was reeling a bit after losing its momentum.

“She leads us in so many different ways,” Flatten said. “There’s nights when we need her to score all the points. There’s nights when we need her to defend the best player. She just makes it happen.”

Soon, the Hawks had surged back in front and this time the Monarchs were unable to respond. Colman-Egan made 13-of-19 free throws in the fourth quarter to help secure the win.

The outcome foiled a valiant attempt by Warner, which never stopped battling.

“It was a huge achievement to even make that game a game,” said lone Warner senior MaKenna Leidholt. “We could have given up at halftime and not tried to fight back that third quarter, but we didn’t. We put our effort out there and we left it all on the court.”

That effort is something the Winter has witnessed all season from her players.

“They’ve never quit,” Winter said. “We’ve never had a game when we were down that anybody hung their heads, quit playing, and this wasn’t any different.”

Kaydee Mackner was a prime example of that. After failing to make a field goal in the opening half, she scored seven points in the second half.

“Next play mentality,” Mackner said. “You can’t focus so much what’s happened in the past. Momentum is a big part of this game.”

Despite being an underdog heading into the contest, the Monarchs were determined to win the game and move on to the state tournament.

“I just think we knew we had a chance to get there and we really wanted it,” Jung said.

In the past week, the Monarchs, who finished the year at 16-7, experienced the high of winning a region game in overtime, and the low of having their season come to an end.

“It’s awesome to win,” Mackner said, “but it’s also something you have to learn from when something happens like this.”

With nearly all of the roster returning, Winter believes that her players will take lessons away from the hard-fought contest.

“It’s such a good learning experience, especially for such a young group of kids that we have,” Winter said. “They’re not going to want to feel like this again.”

Leidholt is the only senior on the team, and will leave a big void, according to Winter.

“Losing MaKenna is hard,” Winter said. “The first year I was the head coach she was my freshman class, so she’s just a tough one to lose.”

Leidholt got a chance to see what the future of Warner basketball will look like during the second-half rally.

“Those girls they came in, they found ways to score, they were being aggressive, they really did an amazing job,” Leidholt said, “and I’m really excited to see what they’re going to be able to do next year.”

WARNER (16-7): Courtney Leidholt 2 1-1 6, Kaydee Mackner 3 3-4 9, Miah Leidholt 2 2-3 6, Jaycee Jung 4 2-5 12, MaKenna Leidholt 0 3-4 3, Olivia Marcuson 1 0-0 2, Tatum Hanson 1 0-2 3, Brynn Hill 1 0-2 3. Totals 14-47 11-21 44.

COLMAN-EGAN (22-1): Brynlee Landis 7 4-6 20, Jolie Flatten 3 3-5 9, Quinn Meyer 3 6-6 12, Maci Voelker 1 0-1 2, Mya Reiff 2 2-4 6. Totals 16-46 15-22 49.

Warner 9 18 36 44

Colman-Egan 20 25 34 49

3-point field goals – C. Leidholt, Jung 2, Hanson, Hill; Landis 2. Total fouls – Warner 19; Colman-Egan 19. Rebounds – Warner 31 (MaKenna Leidholt 10, Mackner 8); Colman-Egan 31 (Landis 7, Voelker 7, Reiff 6). Turnovers – Warner 17; Colman-Egan 16. Assists – Warner 5 (Hill 3, C. Leidholt 2); Colman-Egan 8 (Flatten 4, Landis 3). Blocked shots – Warner 2; Colman-Egan 6 (Reiff 6). Steals – Warner 7 (Jung 4, Hill 2); Colman-Egan 8 (Meyer 2, Voelker 2).