By Brandie Gay
Special to The Vandalia Leader
The Van-Far Lady Indians wanted a better start to their 2023-2024 season, which began last Monday night against the Cario Lady Bearcats.
The Far Lady Indians lost to the Cairo Lady Bearcats, 81-28 on Monday despite 11 points from Elliot Utterback. Senior Carmen Wilburn and freshman Elliot Utterback both split the 10 points in the first quarter with the Cairo scoring 25. In the second quarter, the Lady Bearcats went on a 16 – 2 run to pull away from the Lady Indians and another nine-point run to pull further away leading 47 – 18 at the half.
The Lady Indians came back out after halftime to only score 10 points in the entire second half. The Lady Indians struggled to get the ball down the floor without turnovers. With the low numbers on the bench for Van-Far, it was a struggle to produce points and keep up with the long bench of the Lady Bearcats.
Wilburn had nine points, freshmen Chloe Zumwalt had six points while Mylee Keller finished with two points. Van-Far was 75% from the free throw line.
In the boy’s game, the Van-Far Indians were in control the entire time on Monday versus the Cairo Bearcats. Van-Far never trailed in their 57 – 38 victory.
The Indians got out to a 29 – 25 lead at halftime before closing out the victory. Leading 29 – 27, the Indians went on an eight-point run to pull further away. In the third quarter, senior Nikos Connaway scored 11 points outscoring Cairo 17 – 5. Connaway scored 23 points to lead the Indians. Van-Far had a great day shooting from inside the arc, finishing 20 – 40 on twos. Sophomore Pacey Reading hit three threes, coming in second with 14 points for the Indians. Senior Carter Jennings pounded the glass collecting eight rebounds and adding to his four points. Rounding out for the Indians seniors, Brayden Lay had five points, Gage Gibson had three points, and Carson Huff with two points. Sophomores, Gaven Gaston adding four points and Evan Utterback finishing up with two points for the Van-Far Indians.