By Cort Reynolds
RAWSON - Bluffton lost a seesaw nailbiter at Cory-Rawson 36-35 in a Div. IV girls basketball sectional semifinal Wednesday night to end their season in heartbreaking fashion.

Hornet Libby McVetta sank a game-winning three-pointer from out top to foil the Lady Pirate comeback effort.

C-R ran out to an early five-point lead after a Zoe Chisholm corner triple. The hosts led the Pirate girls 7-2 after a very low-scoring first period of play. 

Bluffton stormed back with a 16-point second stanza to grab an 18-15 intermssion lead.

The Lady Hornets responded with a 16-8 third period to regain the lead by a 31-26 margin.

Bluffton rallied with a 9-5 fourth quarter, but came up just short by a point.

Bluffton senior Laykin Garmatter led all scorers with 15 points in her final game. Junior teammate Kylie Stackhouse contributed 10 points.

Bluffton finished their campaign 12-11 following the defeat. C-R advanced to the sectional finals with a 16-6 record after the victory. 

Riley Busch and Kylie Monday each added four points. The versatile Monday topped the Pirates with seven rebounds, four steals and three assists. 

Sami Scoles contributed five rebounds and three assists. Garmatter added five steals and three boards. Stackhouse added three caroms and a pair of swipes. 

Pirates Haelynn Bischoff and Riley Busch each came up with two steals.

Hornet senior Zoe Chisholm led the victors with a dozen markers. Chisholm contributed a whopping 11 steals to go with five rebounds and four assists.

MaKayla Gilfillan tallied eight points, while McVetta added six markers. Makenzie Cascaden pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and blocked two shots for C-R.

The Lady Pirates canned 15 baskets, one more than Cory. They sank a red-hot 14 of 23 two-point attempts (60.9 percent), but connected on just one of 12 trifecta tries (8.3 percent). 

Overall, Bluffton hit on a respectable 15 of 35 shots from the field (42.9 percent). The Pirates canned 14 of 21 shot attempts in the lane to outscore C-R in the paint, 28-18.

The Pirate girls struggled from the foul line as they converted just four of 10 free throw attempts (40 percent). 

Bluffton out-pointed C-R in transition, 14-10.

The Cory girls connected on 14 of 45 total field tries (31.1 percent). They made 11 of 31 two-pointers (35.5 percent) and sank three of 14 three-point goal tries (21.4 percent). 

C-R also converted five of nine shots from the charity stripe (55.6 percent). 

Bluffton pulled down 23 rebounds, while C-R grabbed 26 caroms. Twelve of the Hornet boards came on the offensive glass. The Pirates yanked down six offensive caroms.

The Pirates committed 26 turnovers, while C-R was guilty of 22 miscues. Bluffton was credited with eight assists compared to nine helpers by Cory. The Pirates made 15 steals, while C-R came up with 18 swipes.

Even though they shot worse from the field, C-R got off 10 more field goal attempts than the Pirates due to greater offensive rebounding and less turnovers.

Bluffton finished the regular season 3-8 on the road after the loss.

The seventh-seeded Lady Hornets previously knocked off the Pirate girls 39-29 at Bluffton in the season opener, and went on to win the Bluffton Holiday Invitational for the first time.

Seventh-seeded C-R will now play at third seed McComb in the second round Saturday, February 20. McComb (18-4) easily eliminated Pandora-Gilboa 61-22 in their sectional first round matchup.

C-R 36 (16-6)
Chisholm 4-10 2-2 12, Kempf 1-1 0-0 2, Cascaden 1-8 0-0 2, Peterson 0-2 1-2 1, Gilfllan 4-9 0-2 8, Welte 1-5 1-1 3, Reece 1-1 0-0 2, P. McVetta 0-5 0-0 0, L. McVetta 2-4 1-2 6, C. McVetta 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals: 14-45/5-9/36. 3-pointers (3-14): Chisholm 2-3, L. McVetta 1-3, Cascaden 0-3, Welte 0-2, P. McVetta 0-2, Gilfillan 0-1. Rebounds: 26. 
 
Bluffton 35 (12-11)
Bischoff 0-2 0-0 0, Garmatter 6-10 2-6 15, Busch 2-3 0-0 4, Eachus 0-3 0-0 0, Stackhouse 5-10 0-0 10, Bricker 0-0 0-0 0, Scoles 0-2 2-3 2, Monday 2-5 0-0 4. 
Totals: 15-35/4-10/35. 3-pointers (1-12): Garmatter 1-5, Monday 0-2, Eachus 0-2, Bischoff 0-1, Busch 0-1, Stackhouse 0-1.     
Rebounds: 23.
 
    1    2    3    4    F
C-R    7    8    16    5    36    
Blf    2    16    8    9    35