By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth girls’ basketball team completed a 10-13 regular season by dropping a pair of road games since last Thursday.Russell-Tyler-Ruthton topped the Panthers by 10 points in Tyler Thursday. When the Panthers lost a three-point decision to Southwest Christian in Edgerton Monday, they finished a regular season below the .500 mark for the first time in the four-year tenure of EHS head coach Dean Schnaible.Ellsworth will attempt to snap a five-game losing skid when it hosts Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster in a preliminary-round game of the South Section 3A Tournament tonight. The seventh-seeded Panthers and 10th-seeded Raiders will play at 7:30 p.m.SWC 46, Ellsworth 43The Panthers were unable to snap what stands as a five-game losing skid when they fell by three points to Southwest Christian in Edgerton Monday.Ellsworth had some chances to force overtime late in the game, but the Panthers didn’t cash in on the opportunities."We had two opportunities to tie the game with threes late in the fourth quarter, but we missed them both," Schnaible said.The teams battled to a draw at 15 in the first quarter before SWC moved in front 24-23 at halftime.The E-Gals extended their lead to six points (34-28) by the end of the third quarter before hanging on to win by three in the end.Making five three-point shots and securing some important rebounds late in the game were the keys to victory for SWC."It was a fairly well-played game," Schnaible said. "We just did not do a good job of boxing out under the basket, and we didn’t put a lot of pressure on their three-point shooters."Laurel Drenth scored 15 points and collected 10 rebounds for EHS, while Amy Timmer came off the bench to score 12 points and snare five rebounds. Amy Tiesler hauled in five rebounds. Marla Groen recorded three steals.Box scoreTiesler 3 0 2-2 8, Leuthold 1 0 0-0 2, Ly.Drenth 0 0 0-0 0, Lr.Drenth 5 0 5-8 15, Groen 0 0 3-4 3, Kramer 1 0 1-2 3, Timmer 4 0 4-4 12.Team statisticsEllsworth: 14 of 31 field goals (45 percent), 15 of 20 free throws (75 percent), 30 rebounds, 17 turnovers.SWC: 18 of 44 field goals (41 percent), five of 16 free throws (31 percent), 21 rebounds, 11 turnovers.R-T-R 63, Ellsworth 53The Panthers completed a 6-8 Camden Conference season by dropping a 10-point decision to the Knights in Tyler Thursday.R-T-R opened a 14-7 lead in the first quarter and never lost control of the game the rest of the night."They beat us with fast-breaks and offensive put-backs," said Panther coach Schnaible. "We didn’t box out under the basket."The Knights extended their lead to 10 points (34-24) at halftime before Ellsworth trimmed the difference to eight points (51-43) in the third quarter. R-T-R used a 12-10 scoring edge in the fourth quarter to win by 10.Laurel Drenth played a solid game for Ellsworth by scoring 26 points, collecting nine rebounds and passing for four assists.Missy Leuthold led EHS with six assists. Tiesler grabbed five rebounds.Box scoreTiesler 2 1 0-0 7, Leuthold 2 0 0-0 4, Kvaale 0 0 0-0 0, Ly.Drenth 0 0 0-0 0, Lr.Drenth 11 0 4-6 26, Groen 1 1 2-2 7, Kramer 1 0 1-3 3, Timmer 3 0 0-0 6.Team statisticsEllsworth: 22 of 52 field goals (42 percent), seven of 12 free throws (58 percent), 27 rebounds, 20 turnovers.R-T-R: 25 of 58 field goals (43 percent), 12 of 17 free throws (71 percent), 27 rebounds, 13 turnovers.
