The Nemaha Central Lady Thunder are one win away from returning to the 3A State Basketball Tournament following a resounding 61-36 victory against Sabetha in Thursday night's semifinal.  After beating Sabetha for the second time this season and ending the Bluejays 13-game winning streak, Nemaha Central will have a rematch against fourth seed Marysville, who upset top seed Pleasant Ridge 45-43.  NC beat Marysville 56-44 on January 18th earlier this season.  

Nemaha Central 61, Sabetha 36

Both teams entered with an 18-3 record and Sabetha led through almost all of the first half with the game tied at 11 after one quarter and the Jays building the lead to 17-11 before Nemaha broke a four-minute scoreless drought and pulled within 17-15 at halftime.  Kirsten Lortscher had hit a trey to start the game and nailed another to start the third period and give Nemaha the lead and also momentum and they pulled away with a 20-6 run that ended up beging a 46-19 second half surge.  

Nemaha Central made 31 of 37 free throws in the contest and 18 of 22 in the fourth quarter alone as Sabetha had to come out of their 2-3 zone and apply more defensive pressure while playing catch-up.  Lortscher helped bust the zone with a trio of three-pointers whiel Jacy Dalinghaus scored 10 points and Alleigh Kramer led the way with 14 after making 10 of 11 foul shots.  Dalinghaus and Hannah Macke were both 6-6 from the charity stripe and Nemaha played great defense while also turning the ball over nine times.    

Sabetha had five girls combine to make 10 treys in the previous matchup against their county and Big 7 rivals and set records with 136 triples made this season.  However, they struggled to make just two shots behind the arc in the game Thursday night.  In fact, they only made two total field goals in both the second and third quarters when the game slipped away.  Four of the seven seniors led the Lady Jays in scoring as Hillary Krebs had 11 points, Jessica Payne added seven and Trista Argabright and Skylar McAfee each chipped in five.       

Marysville 45, Pleasant Ridge 43

This game was tight and back and forth the whole way with Nicole Franco making a pair of free throws to break a 43-43 tie with 12 seconds remaining.  Lindsey Heim got two three-pointers off in the final nine second but they hit the rim and wouldn't fall as the Rams did not make a trey all night and Marysville hit four, including three by Macy Roever in the second half.  Sami Bartels had 13 points for the #4 seed Lady Bulldogs on their home floor and Franco added nine.

Pleasant Ridge ends the season 18-3 with Kaija Nutsch scoring 13 points, Julie Miller 12 and Heim adding 10.  The Rams battled foul trouble in the first half and trailed 26-20 at the break.  

The Nemaha Central vs. Marysville girls championship game will be broadcast at 6:00 PM Saturday night on 92.1 KMZA and www.mscsports.net