The Van-Far girls’ senior night game on Monday started to unravel before halftime.

The Lady Indians trailed Eastern Missouri Conference foe Elsberry 20-14 at halftime, but the other Lady Indian team that extended its winning streak to nine games continued its pouring on the points to eventually defeat Van-Far 51-26. Elsberry stole the ball 16 times and had four girls finish with at least three steals.

Head coach Heather Minter said her team once again didn’t have the scoring to compete as Mara Jensen finished with her fifth double-double of the season at 18 points and 11 rebounds. The senior also finished with five steals as McKenna Engh-Hoffman finished with four points and four rebounds, and senior Madelynn Caldwell made a jumper late in the game and pulled down four rebounds.

“Everybody knows we want to give it to Mara,” Minter said. “I thought we competed first half, and then second half, they just got loose and ran on us and hit some open shots. If Mara is not scoring, then we have to have other girls besides Mara that can score.”

Jensen had 10 of her points at halftime on the same night she was recognized at midcourt between the girls and boys varsity games along with Caldwell and Hailey Lowry along with boys basketball senior Cody Smith, cheerleaders Abigail Carlyle, Taylor Hays and Audrey Williams, and band member Kyleigh Preston. After halftime, Jensen had two field goals as she was forced to shoot eight free throws.

Elsberry (10-4, 2-0 EMO) had a 10-8 lead after one quarter following one steal and score by Anna Talbot and that would continue to hurt Van-Far (2-9, 0-4 EMO) as several possessions amongst Jensen buckets ended in turnovers. Van-Far trailed 20-14 at halftime after Candice Dowell knocked down a jumper at the buzzer.

Dowell led Elsberry with 15 points, three steals and two 3-pointers, Mya Pflasterer followed with 12 points, four steals and two 3-pointers, Anna Talbot had eight points and four steals, and Grace White finished with seven points and four steals off the bench.

After struggling repeatedly to play man-to-man defense, Minter said Van-Far has been using zone, which left Elsberry some open shots in the first half that weren’t being converted. Pflasterer hit the first of her two 3-pointers in the third quarter for a 27-17 Elsberry lead with four minutes left, and Elsberry knocked down four 3-pointers in the quarter to take a 40-17 lead into the fourth quarter. A 24-3 run, spanning to the closing minutes of the second quarter, changed the complexion of the game.

“They started hitting shots,” Minter said. “We left them open in the first half, but they weren’t making them. Then they started making them so we went man, and we’re not that good at man.”

Minter said she has been at Van-Far for four years so she’s had time to be around all three of the team’s seniors. She said she especially is close with Jensen as the reigning unanimous all-conference first-team member has been the Lady Indians’ star player for a while but feels close and grateful for the other two as well.

“With her, we created a very special bond,” Minter said. “Madelynn got sick last year so she took last year off and came back this year. I’ve had Lowry for the last two years. They’ve been a part of this program since I’ve come. They’re special and you always want to win on senior night, but we just couldn’t get it done tonight.”

Van-Far played at Class 3 No. 3 South Shelby on Tuesday before traveling to conference foe Bowling Green (6-7, 201 EMO) at 5:30 p.m. Friday.