MONROE — Marysville-Pilchuck girls basketball team couldn’t handle Monroe’s backcourt pressure Jan 21 in a 62-48 Wesco North loss.

In a matchup to see which team held sole possession of third place, the Tommies didn’t match the Tigers intensity in the second half.

“I think we let their pressure get to us,” said M-P head coach Julie Martin. “A lot of the girls didn’t want to bring the ball up.”

After working to tie the score at 23-23 at halftime, the Tommies turned the ball over a dozen times in the second half en route being outscored 39-25. Most of Monroe’s scoring came by way of senior Suzanna Ohlsen, who scored 27 of a school-high 40 points in the second half.

“We struggled with our game plan, which was originally to have better help defense against her,” said Martin. “But she did a great job of going by our first girl and then being able to do whatever she wanted after that.”

M-P started the second half on a 6-0 run in the first minute, but watched as Monroe slowly took it back to a 37-36 Tigers advantage. In the fourth quarter, however, the Tommies went cold and Monroe scored 25 points.

The loss snaps a three-game win streak for M-P, which owns a 7-4 record like Monroe, but the Tigers own the tie-breaker.

Leading the Tommies in scoring was Dacia Heckendorf with 17 points while Morga Martinis added nine.

Martin said she was impressed with the play of freshmen.

“They really stepped up, Charlee (Pilon) and Amanda (Klep) spread the ball around and showed more poise than you would expect from freshmen,” Martin said.

M-P plays Arlington at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26.