By Fred Kroner
Georgetown-Ridge Farm rallied in the final quarter on Saturday to eliminate Villa Grove in a first-round Class 1A regional tournament girls’ basketball game in Georgetown.
Villa Grove took a 26-25 lead into the final stanza, but fell short, 40-35.
Kaylee Arbuckle led the Blue Devils with 13 points. Emma Buesing added 12 points and Jobella Crafton finished with six points.
Villa Grove led, 11-9, after one quarter, but trailed, 16-13, at halftime.
The Blue Devils end the season with a 4-22 record. Three of the losses were by forfeit due to COVID-19 issues.
Six players led the team in scoring in at least one game.
Arbuckle led in 10 games. Buesing led in nine games. Jobella Crafton, Stutz and Ava Vollmer each led twice. Vanessa Wright led in one game.
Buesing and Arbuckle waged a season-long battle for team three-point supremacy. Buesing held a slight edge, sinking 30 three-pointers compared to 27 for Arbuckle.
Both players hit more than half of their total baskets from three-point range. Buesing made 62.5 percent of her baskets from beyond the arc. Arbuckle hit 57.4 percent of her total baskets from three-point range.
Freshman Jobella Crafton was the most adapt at getting to the free throw line. She attempted 55 charity shots. Arbuckle was next with 29 free throw attempts.
The highest accuracy rate from the line belonged to Wright, who was limited to five games. She bagged 11 of 12 free throws, 91.7 percent.
The team’s top scorers were Arbuckle (7.5 scoring average), Wright (6.8 average) and Buesing (6.2 average).
The team’s seniors were Arbuckle, Jobeth Crafton, Andi Patton, Hailey Stutz, Vollmer and Wright.
