Ellsworth Girls Take Down Hoisington, Advance to Sub-State Final

HOISINGTON-Lainey Peschka scored nine of her game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter as the #3 Seed Ellsworth Lady Bearcats held off #2 seed Hoisington 46-42 in the Class 3A Sub-State Semifinals Friday night at the Hoisington Activity Center.

The first quarter was fairly even as the lead changed hands several times before Ellsworth settled for a 15-10 advantage after the first eight minutes.  The Lady Bearcats stretched the margin to 21-16 before Hoisington cut their deficit to 21-20 at intermission.  The Lady Cardinals continued what became an 11-0 run into the third quarter and led 27-21 after Kylee Hahn knocked down a three-pointer making it appear that Hoisington was ready to seize control of the game.  

Ellsworth then got back-to-back treys from Peschka and Elyse Haxton to tie the score at 27-27, then the Lady Bearcats regained the lead when Peschka stole the ball from a Lady Cardinal and tossed in a layup to make the score 29-27 in favor of the visitors before Ellsworth entered the final period holding a 32-30 edge.

After the Lady Bearcats led 34-30, Hoisington scored four straight points to tie the score once again and then the Lady Cardinals took the lead 37-34 on a three-pointer by Mallory Mooney.  The Lady Bearcats fought back and tied the game again 37-37 on a basket by Peschka and a free throw by Peyton Coonrod and grabbed the lead for good on another bucket by Peschka.

From there, Peschka and Coonrod combined to make four of six free throws in the closing minutes to put the game away and send Ellsworth to the Sub-State Championship game on Saturday night.

Haxton Joined Peschka in double figures for Ellsworth (11-11) with 16 points while Kylee Hahn paced Hoisington (14-8) with 13 points.

Ellsworth will face top seed Haven for the Sub-State title on Saturday evening.  The Lady Wildcats recovered from a 12-point halftime deficit and knocked out #4 seed Larned 43-37 in the first semifinal game on Friday.

Both the Ellsworth Boys and Girls will face off against Haven on Saturday with a trip to the Class 3A State Tournament in Hutchinson on the line.  The Boys game will tip off at 5 p.m. and the Girls game will be at 6:30 p.m. both at the Hoisington Activity Center.

Both games will air on Classic Hits 107.9 KZRS as well as online at KRSL.com and streaming on Alexa.