Unaka was unable to overcome a slow start in the Region 1-A semifinals.
The Lady Rangers dropped a 53-36 decision to District 2 top-seed Washburn on the road on Friday night.
With the loss, Unaka’s season comes to a close while the Lady Pirates advance to Monday’s Region 1-A semifinals against North Greene.
Keyonna Hague provided an early bucket for the Lady Rangers, but Washburn used a 5-0 run to take a 9-3 lead midway through the quarter. The Lady Pirates continued to hold the momentum as they pushed the advantage to 20-6.
Alisha Harrell stopped the run with an Unaka 3-pointer to trim the Washburn lead to 20-9 after a quarter of play.
After the Lady Pirates scored the first eight points of the second quarter, the Lady Rangers battled back with three 3-pointers from Harrell but were unable to rally back as Washburn held a 31-18 advantage at the half.
In the second half, Unaka kept battling but was unable to dig into the Washburn lead.
The Lady Pirates led 44-25 at the end of the third.
