Berthold’s Shayne Simons draws a blocking foul on Central McLean’s Sally Heger during the second half of a state tournament semifinal game on Friday, March 6, at the MSU Dome. Mike Kraft/MDN

Third place was the prize Central McLean and Berthold were playing for when the two teams met at last year’s Class B girls basketball state tournament.

With all due respect to the third-place game, the stakes were much higher this year when the Cougars and Bombers renewed postseason acquaintances. Instead of the bronze medal, they were playing for a spot in the state championship game, a feat neither team had accomplished in their program’s respective histories.

Central McLean earned that spot and will play for its first state title after outlasting Berthold 47-37, in the state semifinals on Friday, March 6, at the MSU Dome. The No. 1 seeded Cougars will face No. 3 seed LaMoure-Litchville-Marion for the title on Saturday, March 7, at 8 p.m. The Loboes are also making their championship game debut.

“It felt like the championship,” Central McLean’s Morgan Snyder said. “All the hard work we’ve put into it and all the hustle and all the excitement.”

A night after putting up a tournament-best 37 points against Linton-HMB, Snyder again had a big night on the stat sheet, pouring in a game-high 27 points, knocking down three of the Cougars’ four 3-pointers in the game. It didn’t come easy, as she finished 8-for-26 from the field, but a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. She did most of her damage in the first half, tallying 16 of her team’s 28 points.

The game looked like it was trending toward a shootout after the first quarter. The Cougars shot 47.1 percent in the first eight minutes and the Bombers connected on a pair of 3s from Ella Brown and Shayne Simons.

Central McLean (26-1) led 20-10 after one before the game turned into a slugfest, with buckets at a premium. The two teams combined for just four field goals in the second quarter. Seven of Berthold’s nine points came from the free-throw line. Snyder added two more baskets and Aryah Ross added another right before the end of the half to give the Cougars a 28-19 advantage at the half.

The shooting woes continued into the second half. Central McLean missed 14 of its 15 shots in the third quarter, allowing the Bombers (20-8) to close the gap. Addison Neshem hit her first shot from the field to open the third quarter, beginning a mini 7-2 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Audra Deaver to get the Bombers to within 30-26 halfway through the period. Berthold pulled within three points of the lead late in the quarter, but were never able to fully catch the Cougars on the scoreboard.

“Defensively, when we started picking up full court, we kind of made a little bit of a run,” Berthold coach Ken Keysor said. “Not really sure we caught the grasp that we really wanted to take away every pass, but to get to the state semifinals, it’s OK. It’s OK.”

Central McLean’s mission statement on defense was to take away Berthold’s 3-pointers. After yielding two in the opening quarter, the Cougars gave up just three more throughout the final three frames. The Bombers shot 5-for-24 from behind the 3-point line. Brown was the only one having success from distance, knocking down 3 of 5 attempts to finish with nine points. The rest of the team combined to shoot 2-for-19.

“We didn’t want them shooting 3s,” Central McLean coach Kipp Sparrow said. “That was the difference after that first quarter. We wanted to get our kids out there and take our chances with them putting it on the floor and it worked out. It limited their shooting.”

After being held to just a pair of free throws in the third, Snyder gave Central McLean a bit of breathing room in the fourth, opening the quarter with the team’s first seven points to establish a 42-33 lead with 4:22 left. Brown’s third 3-pointer of the game and second of the quarter briefly got the Bombers back to within six, but that was quickly erased by a Ross basket and a River Fylling free throw.

“I was just trying to provide what I could for my team, working as hard as I can and being there for my team,” Ross said.

While Snyder contributed more than half of the team’s points, her supporting cast did plenty of the little things on both ends of the court to put Central McLean into the championship game.

“As far as the rest of the girls go, they did a fantastic job of putting the ball in when they needed to and playing defense as hard as they could to affect the game,” Sparrow said. “To hold that team down to 37 points is a real tip of the hat to the girls that were coming off the bench and all of our guards. It was a great night for them.”

Sally Heger finished with five points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Fylling had a game-high four steals, as the Cougars forced 19 turnovers, leading to nine points. Ross finished with eight points and five rebounds. Ross anchored an inside game that outscored the Bombers 20-6 in the paint.

“I thought Aryah played one of her best games of the season,” Sparrow said. “She put the ball in the basket when we needed her to and controlled the rebounds and stopped any kind of inside presence they had going, which helped with our overall defense.”

The Cougars held Neshem well under her average of 26.6 points per game, limiting her to 10 points on 1-for-8 shooting. Eight of her points came from the free-throw line.

“If we take her away then the game is ours,” Snyder said. “She is unbelievable. She is an amazing player, so we had to take her away.”

The Cougars finished a perfect 5-0 against teams from Region 3, besting TGU, Kenmare-Bowbells, Surrey and Our Redeemer’s before taking down Berthold.

The Bombers look to finish third at the state tournament for a second straight year when they play defending state champion Benson County on Friday, March 7, at 6 p.m. at the MSU Dome.