BASKETBALL: Elverado falls short against Wayne City

ELKVILLE, IL - The Lady Falcons ran out of magic in Wednesday night's Class A Regional Semifinal matchup with Wayne City, keeping it close for three quarters before the top-seeded Lady Indians pulled away for a 54-37 victory.

Elverado, the Regional host, was within a bucket as time ticked down in the third quarter, but was outscored 19-4 over the game's final eight minutes and fifteen seconds.

The Lady Indians led 25-18 at the half, but the Lady Falcons still had some fight left in them after Monday's dramatic overtime win over Woodlawn. Paige Newfarmer hit a three-pointer with 1:30 left in the third, then Allecia Cross buried two from downtown in the final minute of the period to cut the lead to 35-33 before Wayne City's Kalee Alvis put in a three ball with 10 seconds on the clock to restore a five-point advantage for the Lady Indians.

Newfarmer, who led EHS with 13 points on the night, hit a short-range jumper with 7:36 to go in the fourth quarter to make the score 40-35 Wayne City, but the Lady Falcons would go without a basket for the next five minutes of game clock.

Meanwhile, the Indians went on an 8-0 run as Elverado went ice cold from the floor.

The three-point shot kept the Lady Falcons in the game for most of the night as five of their twelve makes from the field were from beyond the arc. EHS also made 8-of-10 shots at the foul line, but the Lady Indians were too much to handle in crunch time.

Hannah Rawson finished with 9 points for Elverado, Cross and Cheyenne Abbadusky had 6, Corrine Wilson 2 and Rebecca Korando 1.

Hunter Clark's 21 points for Wayne City led all scorers.

The Lady Indians move on to face Galatia-Thompsonville in Thursday's 7:30 p.m. Regional Championship game in Elkville.