Despite leading for more than 90 percent of the game, it was a tough overtime loss for the Nemaha Central girls on Saturday night in the 3A Sub State Championship game at Silver Lake by a 59-54 final. One night after dominating Hiawatha, the Thunder put together another great effort having won 9 of thier last 10 games and jumping ahead of the top seed at host Eagles 14-10 at the end of one quarter.  The Thunder never trailed again until overtime when Silver Lake went 8-8 at the foul line to earn the win. 

Free throw shooting proved to play a big part of the game as Nemaha went just 9 of 19 at the stripe and missed five in the fourth quarter while Silver Lake made 13 of their 18 attempts including all 8 in OT. Nemaha Central led 26-19 at halftime and by as many as 11 in the third quarter. The Eagles cut the marging to 46-41 with 3:05 to play and got within a single possession at 46-43 with two minutes left. McKynsey Henry made one of two foul shots with 41 seconds left to give Nemaha a 49-46 lead but Mckinley Kruger drained a trey to tie the score with 30 seconds to go before both teams made a defensive stop at the end of regulation and the Thunder almost won it with a steal and lane shot in the closing seconds. 

Addy Holthaus was terrific for the second straight night with 20 points but fouled out with 53 second remaining in the fourth period. Ella Larkin had 20 points as well for Nemaha Central who ended their season with a share of the Big 7 League title again and a 17-6 record while just missing their fifth trip to the state tournament in the last six years. The Thunder also lost an overtime sub state championship game last season. 

Silver Lake improved to 22-1 and will be the top seed at 3A State in Hutchinson this week as they open play at 2:00 PM on Thursday against Cherryvale (15-8). It is the second straight year for the Eagles to make state under second year Coach Kyle Porter, who won a 3A title with the Royal Valley girls in 2018. Kaibryn and McKinley Kruger each had 12 points and combined for six three-pointers while the Thunder only made one triple in the final. Taylor Ross also had 12 points and Makenzie McDaniel added 10 as the Eagles survived for the second straight night by beating another Big 7 foe in just their fourth win by single digits this year.