Brownstown-St. Elmo girls overcame a slow start to battle with the Edwards County Lions for three and a half quarters but came up short in a heartbreaking 50-44 loss in the Championship game of the Wayne City 1A Sectional on Thursday night. The Lady Bombers struggled to stop the Lions early as Edwards County got out to a 10-0 lead before BSE could get on the board with a basket from Madi Miller with 4:12 remaining in the first quarter. The Bombers went on a 9-0 run as Dayana Haslett hit for five points and Addie Sasse added a pair of free throws to cut the Lions lead to one, 10-9. Edwards County was able to hit a three though and go up 13-9 to end the first quarter. BSE used a 7-3 run to open the second quarter and tie the game at 16-16 on a Presley Williams free throw. After baskets from both teams had the game in a gridlock again 18-18, two BSE baskets and a Lions 7-4 run had BSE trailing 25-22 before Haslett hit a short jumper right before the buzzer as BSE pulled back to within one point, 25-24, at halftime. The Lady Bombers came out strong from the locker room and went on a 6-0 run to go up 30-25. After several scoreless possessions back and forth, BSE extended their lead to seven points when Danika Ramsey drove along the right baseline and scored to make it 32-25 with 2:50 left in the third quarter. Momentum quickly flipped though as Edwards County went on a 7-1 run to end the quarter and cut the Bombers lead to 33-32. After each team scored quick to start the fourth and make it 35-34 with 7:04 left to go in the game, the Lions retook the lead with a 6-0 run as BSE trailed 40-35 with 5 minutes left in the game. The Bombers turned the ball over and an ensuing three pointer from the Lions has BSE down 43-35 halfway through the quarter before a mid-range jumper from Ramsey cut BSE’s deficit to 43-37. On the Bombers next possession, a baseline inbounds play would see Williams find Ramsey on the backside of the lane for an easy layup to further cut the Lions lead down to 43-39. The Lions upped their lead to 46-39 with 3:14 left in the game. BSE was able to close the gap when Haslett was fouled on a three point attempt from the right wing with 2:50 to go and she sank all three free throws to cut the Lions lead to 46-42. The game would stay that way until BSE fouled to stop the clock with 37.1 seconds left and the Lions hit both free throws to extend their lead to 48-42. BSE hit their final shot with 27.8 seconds left on a drive and score from Williams to cut it to 48-44. BSE fouled and stopped the clock one more time with 22.1 seconds left and after Edwards County hit one of two free throws to make it 49-44, Haslett’s three attempt from the top of the key with 16 seconds left came up short and no foul was called on the contact. BSE got another chance as Cami Haslett got a shot off from the left corner and it wouldn’t go and with the Lions getting the rebound, BSE fouled to stop the clock with 5.8 seconds left. The Lions hit one of two free throws again to make it 50-44 and that is how the game would end as BSE suffered the tough loss. The Lady Bombers end the season with a record of 30-4 which is the most wins for a season in program history. They are the first BSE team to make it to the Sweet 16, the first to win a regular season National Trail Conference title, they are three-time Dieterich Holiday Tournament Championships and winners of back-to-back Regional Championships.
BSE Scoring:
Dayana Haslett – 18 points
Madi Miller – 14 points
Danika Ramsey – 6 points
Presley Williams – 3 points
Addie Sasse – 3 points
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