RENO — The Reno girls basketball team picked a bad night to play one of their worst games of the winter tournament. Reno, the three-time defending Northern 4A champion struggled offensively throughout Thursday’s state semifinal matchup against Bishop Gorman and was saddled with a 61-40 loss at Lawlor Events Center.

Bishop Gorman broke the game open in the third period. The margin was 10, 32-22, after Reno’s Stephanie Rovetti made a putback with 5:28 to go in the third quarter. That’s when Bishop Gorman took control. Gaels’ all-state guard Aaryn Ellenberg scored seven points of a 9-0 BG run that propelled the private Catholic school ahead 41-22.

“We didn’t play our best game,” Reno coach Shane Foster said. “It was the same deal as a couple years ago. We were right there and then they go on a big run. And Ellenberg’s the real deal.”

Reno trimmed the margin to 13, 41-28, after Sierra Sobrio buried a trey in the corner with 1:23 remaining in the third. However, a 12-0 Bishop Gorman run, over a two-minute span that bridged the third and fourth quarters, gave the Gaels a 25-point lead, 53-28, and sealed Reno’s losing fate.

The Huskies finished just 14-of-50 shooting from the field (28 percent), including 3-of-18 from beyond the arc. Outside of Sobrio’s 3-of-5 shooting from three-point land, the Huskies were 0-of-13. Conversely, Bishop Gorman was 22-of-43 (51.2 percent) and 7-of-12 on 3-pointers.

“We were missing shots, but it was a pretty evenly matched first quarter and even down 10 at half, we thought we were right there,” Foster said. “We came out of the half and got some good looks, but didn’t connect. Then it went from 10-18 and we were in trouble right there.”

Ellenberg, the Gaels 5-foot-7 shooting guard, who has committed to national power Oklahoma, finished with a game-high 31 points. She connected on 10-of-16 from the field and 5-of-7 from three.

Reno did get off to a good start. The Huskies led 9-6 on a Rovetti layup with just over three minutes left in the first period. Bishop Gorman outscored Reno 6-2 through the remainder of the quarter and led 12-11 after the first eight minutes.

The gap as still two, 15-13, when Liz Messick dropped in a layup in the post for Reno. Ellenberg then proceeded to bury back-to-back three-point bombs for a 21-13 Gaels lead with 5:15 to go before halftime.

Reno made it 23-19 after two Sobrio free throws at the 2:56 mark of the second quarter. Unfortunately for Huskies fan, Gorman scored the final six points of the half and led 29-19 at the intermission.

Sobrio scored 11 points for Reno and Rovetti led the way with 16 for the RHS club. No other Reno player managed more than six.