Central McLean’s Morgan Snyder goes up for a shot at the rim in between Linton-HMB defenders Avery Vander Vorste (4) and Macy Hase (1) during the first half of Class B state quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 5, at the MSU Dome. Mike Kraft/MDN

The Central McLean girls basketball team isn’t afraid to mix things up when it feels like something isn’t working quite right.

The old adage is that defense wins championships, so when the Cougars felt like their defensive strategy in the first half wasn’t championship worthy, they changed their approach and it proved to be the difference down the stretch.

The top seed in the Class B state tournament held Linton-HMB to 16 points in the second half en route to a 55-42 victory in the quarterfinal round on Thursday, March 5, at the MSU Dome. Central McLean forced 19 turnovers, leading to 20 points.

“Early on, our defense was doing alright,” Central McLean coach Kipp Sparrow said. “We were laid back on our heels a little bit too much there and we needed to change some of the stuff we were doing. We went into that triangle and 2 and box and 1 situation to try and slow their shooters down. But if we’re not going to get up on them and affect them, we’re going to have a long night and we weren’t doing that right away. We needed to change and get into something we were capable of doing tonight.”

The Cougars (25-1) held a slim 28-26 lead at halftime after Linton-HMB’s Macy Hase drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Lions connected on five 3-pointers in the first half, with Hase knocking down three and Brooklyn Schumacher hitting the other two. Linton-HMB shot 38.5 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from distance in the opening half.

“Their shooting ability was unbelievable,” Central McLean’s Morgan Snyder said. “They shot the lights out and we knew we had to switch up our defense.”

Snyder was a big reason that, despite the defensive lapses in the first half, the Cougars went into the locker room with a lead. Snyder accounted for 20 of her team’s 28 points in the first half, shooting 9-for-17 with a pair of 3s.

The Lions (15-13) stayed within reach of the lead through the first three quarters, never trailing by more than seven points during that stretch. But Linton-HMB struggled to hit shots against Central McLean’s defensive adjustments. The Cougars limited Linton-HMB to one field goal in the third quarter and three in the fourth. Nine of the Lions’ 16 second-half points came at the free-throw line.

After hitting five 3s in the first half, the Lions missed all eight attempts over the final 16 minutes. Central McLean’s defense held the Lions to 12.5 percent shooting in the third and 23.1 percent in the fourth.

“The difference in the game is their defense is really good,” Linton-HMB coach Michael Schirado said. “Morgan is going to get hers, but their defense is really good and they change it up a lot. In the second half they went triangle and 2 and box and 1 on us and we didn’t run good stuff against it and we kind of got pushed off our spots in that second half when we should have been more aggressive offensively.”

Snyder did get her points, finishing with a game-high 37 points. She scored 11 straight points for the Cougars between the second and third quarters and her final 3-pointer of the contest put her team ahead 45-35 with 5:50 remaining. She scored nine of the Cougars’ final 13 points.

“My shots were actually falling tonight and I was just seeing the floor,” Snyder said.

Snyder averages 27 points per game.

Sally Heger and Aryah Ross both had six for the Cougars.

Hase finished with a team-high 15 points – 13 coming in the first half.

The Lions got off to a quick start and had upset on their minds early. Hase netted five unanswered points to close the first quarter and give Linton-HMB a 12-9 lead.

“Every game here is going to be hard-fought,” Sparrow said. “They shot the ball extremely well and made us do some things we didn’t really want to do. In the end, we kind of got adjusted to it and it made a difference, but I tip my hat to them.”

The Cougars took the lead for good as a result of a 10-1 run to open the second quarter that gave them a 19-13 edge. The Lions cut it as close as one before the half and were within two midway through the third, but couldn’t recapture the lead.

“We battled and that’s what we want to do,” Schirado said. “We always talk about playing worthy of winning and when we get into that locker room after a win or a loss, we want to look ourselves in the face and look at each other and say whether we played worthy winning and we did today. We gave it everything we had, but they’re really good. Morgan Snyder is insanely good.”

For Snyder, the victory is a sigh of relief.

“The first game is always the most nerve-racking game for us,” Snyder said. “We’re just happy we pulled away with it.”

Central McLean entered Thursday’s game 1-1 in state quarterfinals, winning their 2025 state quarterfinal against Langdon Area/Munich.

Next up for Central McLean is a semifinal matchup against the winner of Berthold on Friday, March 6, at 2:45 p.m. at the MSU Dome. Linton-HMB will play Flasher in a consolation semifinal at 8:15 p.m.