ALBERT LEA — The Austin girls basketball team didn’t have much trouble getting past Red Lake (5-2 overall) 78-40 in the first round of the Albert Lea Tournament Thursday.

Sophomore Mer Gach poured in a career-high 20 points for the Packers (2-7 overall) and Jenna Svoboda added 13 points.

“Jenna got us going early and Mer had a good second half,” Austin head coach Todd Johnson said. “It’s nice to have a paint presence with those two.”

The Packers will play Albert Lea (4-5 overall) in the title game Friday in AL at 3 p.m. The Tigers beat the Packers 74-56 after Austin had led by 16 Dec. 11.

“We got the rust off today and hopefully we can play better tomorrow,” Johnson said.

Austin 37 41 — 78

Red Lake 15 25 — 40

Austin scoring: Mer Gach, 20; Jenna Svoboda, 13; Steph Justice, 12; Jocelyn Sheehan, 10; Shayley Vesel, 8; Merideth Fritz, 5; Taylor Lady, 4; Sydney Murphy, 2; Kelsey Sederquist, 2; Gabby Blanchard, 1; Christine Barinka, 1