GIRLS BASKETBALL: Elverado offense lacks punch in loss to Steeleville

Steeleville's Chloe Gerlach hit four three-pointers in the first half to help the Warriors take control of Thursday night's Regional championship at Trico High School, as Elverado couldn't overcome a sluggish first half offensively in their 48-35 loss.

The Lady Falcons fought back after falling into a 7-2 hole after two and a half minutes, tying the game at 9-9 before Gerlach gave the momentum back to the Warriors with a buzzer-beating triple to end the first quarter.

Gerlach hit two more in the second quarter, and teammate Lindsay Hammel added one herself as Steeleville pulled ahead 27-16 at the break while the Lady Falcons began to run into some free throw shooting difficulties that would carry over into the second half.

"We didn't follow the game plan," said EHS head coach Rasheeda Love. "I don't take any credit away from (Gerlach), she is a great shooter, but when your coach gives you a scouting report on how to play certain things you have to follow that game plan in order to be successful. That's one of the things that kind of bit us early, and it was difficult to fight back from that deficit."

An 8-0 run early in the third quarter gave the Warriors plenty of separation on the scoreboard, as Elverado got no closer than eleven the rest of the night.

The Lady Falcons made just 11-for-27 at the free throw line, and were just 4-for-16 there if you eliminate Hannah Alstat's 7-for-11 performance.

"We're a young team," Love said. "Not many of our girls watch and study the game of basketball, so it's quite from different for me and my assistant coach Ernest Metcalf to try to instill those things in them so that they can see those little things that we talk about tweaking are so detrimental in games like this. Steeleville came ready tonight."

Cheyenne Abbadusky scored ten points to lead Elverado before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. Alstat added nine points, Kylee Bedar had five, Tori Ehlers four, Emma Bigham and Kennedy Kimmel three, and Brooke Whittington one.

Whittington advanced to the Sectional round of the Three-Point Showdown earlier in the evening.

The Lady Falcons finish their season with a record of 10-18 overall.