LARNED — The Ellsworth girls’ basketball team continued to keep their postseason run alive March 7 as they took on the Beloit Trojans in the KSHSAA Class 3A Substate Championship, winning the game 49-45.

The game was neckand-neck. The fourth quarter began with a 34-34 tie. Each team was 8 minutes away from the state tournament.

After both teams started the quarter with a couple of empty possessions, Beloit scored first, sparking a mini 4-0 Trojan run before freshman Kari Place became the first Bearcat to score in the quarter with two free throws, making the score 38-36. Beloit then answered with another four straight points to achieve their biggest lead of the second half at 42-36, but this time senior Elyse Haxton stopped the run with a 3-pointer, immediately followed by an Ellsworth timeout with 3:28 left in the game. The scoreboard read 42-39 in favor of the Trojans.

After the timeout, Place nailed two more charity tosses to pull the Bearcats within 1. Beloit extended their lead back to 3 points, and the Trojans had the ball once again. A Trojan guard attempted to drive to the bucket, but her shot was blocked and the ball taken by Place, leading to another Haxton 3-ball from the left elbow to tie the score at 42-42 with 1:45 on the clock.

With under a minute left and the score tied, Beloit had another shot blocked and the ball taken away, this time by senior Lexi Moore, who was fouled on the offensive end. She took her trip to the free throw line. Making 1-2, Moore gave the Bearcats their first lead of the quarter at 45-44, with only :41 left in the game.

Coming down to the final seconds and a 47-45 Bearcat lead, senior Lainey Peschka iced the game with two free throws to make it a twopossession game with just 5.5 seconds left as the Bearcats headed to the state tournament by a 49-45 score.

The substate game was close from the tipoff.

Beloit gained the first lead of the game on a single free throw, followed by a drive to the basket by Moore for Ellsworth’s first lead of the game at 2-1. That lead was short-lived, however, as the Trojans finished the opening frame on a 7-0 run to end the quarter with a 9-2 lead.

Senior Josie Kueser scored the first 4 points of the second quarter to bring the Bearcats to within 3 points before tying it at 11-11 with 5:42 left in the first half, courtesy of a 3-pointer from senior Jo Lindsley.

The two teams played through three ties and two lead changes. Ellsworth’s leads came at the 2:17 mark on an oldfashioned 3-point play from senior Reagan Hansen, then on two free throws from Place with :02 left in the half.

The Bearcats took a 17-16 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Most of the third quarter was played with a 3-5-point Bearcat lead before the Trojans regained a brief 32-30 lead, right before the frame ended with a 34-34 tie.

Moore claimed the top-scoring honors for Ellsworth with 10 points, followed by Peschka with 9 points, while Haxton added 8.

Girls defeat Phillipsburg in semifinal game

LAKIN — The Ellsworth girls competed March 4 in semifinals before advancing to substate.

The Bearcats entered the substate tournament as the No. 7 seed and a 14-6 record.

The Broncs came into the contest with an 18-4 record and seeded No. 2.

The game didn’t start quite as the Bearcats had planned, as Lakin jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead. However, it didn’t take long for the lead to change. Senior Lainey Peschka connected on a 3-pointer from the left baseline just 32 seconds into the game, followed by senior Elyse Haxton backing her up with another 3-pointer. Senior Lexi Moore followed with a 12-foot jumper to complete the 8-0 Ellsworth run before the Broncs scored on two free throws with 5:38 remaining in the opening period.

Following a 6-point Ellsworth lead, the two teams tied at 17-17. The Bearcats were nowhere finished, however, as they closed out the quarter with a 6-0 run to match their biggest lead of the game thus far at 23-17.

The Broncs scored first in the second quarter before Ellsworth reeled off 7 straight points, increasing their biggest lead of the game to 11 points. Later in the period, Lakin cut the deficit down to 5 points, but the Bearcats answered with a short jumper from freshman Kari Place right before halftime, to give Ellsworth a 34-27 advantage going into the second half.

Following a Moore putback of her own shot for the first score of the second half, Lakin went on a 7-0 run to pull within 2 points of the Bearcats at 36-34, prompting head coach Craig Batchman to call a timeout with 3:44 left in the period. Following the timeout, Ellsworth added 3 more points in the quarter, courtesy of a field goal from senior Jo Lindsley, to take a 39-34 lead into the fourth quarter.

Lakin closed the gap to a single point twice in the final period, but the Bearcats maintained control of the game, shooting a calm and collected 7 of 8 from the charity stripe in the final minutes to win the game by a score of 48-42.

Following her impressive 28-point outing versus Phillipsburg, Moore led the Bearcats in the scoring department with 17 points, followed by 13 points from Haxton, while Peschka added 7 points.