For what head coach Molly Pickall estimated was the first time all season, Bozeman entered a game with some “nervous energy.”

The team built an early lead on Saturday against Jackson Hole Black in the semifinals of the state tournament but squandered it by halftime. But Bozeman, playing against its primary rival, regrouped and came out firing in the second half, leading to a 16-14 win on Montana State’s campus.

“I think we were playing really scrappy but really well in the first half and we were just tiring ourselves out,” senior Coco McKay said. “And then we realized if we started connecting the dots and slowing down and trusting each other and trusting ourselves, we knew what we needed to do. We just had to take care of it.”