It didn’t come without a fight.  The Beacons watched their lead dwindle from 15 in the second half down to one in the final minute as Minnehaha began to heat up from long range.

After being held to one point in the opening half, Minnehaha Academy’s leading scorer Mia Curtis put up 18 points in the second half and hit a pair of 3-point shots. The team hit five threes in the second half.

“Mia hasn’t gone off yet, but she will,” Stubbs recalled telling her players at halftime. “We had to know it’s okay for them to go on a run.”

Still, Concordia never relinquished the lead, hitting free throws and forcing pivotal turnovers down the stretch to clinch it.

“We just stayed together. We knew they were a tough team and that they’d make a run,” junior guard Ivane Tensaie said.

Tensaie scored a game-high 23 points. Teammate Grace Landvik finished with 17.

Minnehaha Academy will miss the state tournament for just the second time in 13 years.

“I loved our fight, but we didn’t make shots like we normally do,” Minnehaha Academy coach Matt Pryor said. “When you catch a team like Concordia when they’re hitting shots and you’re not, they have enough talent to jump you and that’s exactly what they did.''

Paul Hodowanic (paul.hodowanic@startribune.com) is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.