The Nashville-Mater Dei girls basketball on Saturday afternoon had a postseason feel to it even though it wasn’t a postseason  game.

The two state-ranked squads — Mater Dei is No. 7 in Class 3A and Nashville is No. 3 in Class 2A — went toe-to-toe for 32 intense minutes.

The Knights came out on top 31-30 thanks to Paige Richards’ 15-footer from the wing at the buzzer.

“Both teams played very hard,’’ Mater Dei coach Dave Kohnen said. “The tone of the game was to play physical. There was a lot of bodies all over the floor.’’

The two teams were playing for the third time this season — they’d split the previous two games — and Kohnen was a little surprised by how physical the game turned out. 

“We played hard against reach other every time we play,’’ Kohnen said. “Did I expect it to be that physical? Probably not.

“There was a probably a lot of mistakes in the game on both sides. There was some buckets that both of us wish we could have made, but when it gets down to this part of the season, a little bit of nerves start to surface.’’

Even though his team lost, Nashville coach Wayne Harre thought the game would pay dividends down the line.

“I told them at halftime, ‘This is a postseason situation where you try to grind it out, grind it out, grind it out,’’’ Harre said. “You play by possession. I thought this was a great deal for us, and hopefully it will helps us down the road. This was a good game to play at this time of the year."