POCAHONTAS — The St. Edmond girls were unable to get on track here Thursday night, falling to Pocahontas Area, 68-34.

The Gaels (5-13 overall) found out their postseason assignment earlier this week, as they will host Paton-Churdan next Thursday in a Class 1A regional opener.

Payton Bradley scored 14 points with four 3-pointers to lead the way vs. the Indians (15-5), who were ranked up until this past week. Josie Harvey added six with Chloe Palmer and Sophia Schlienz each scoring five.

St. Edmond was within four at the end of the first and down just 26-17 at the half before Pocahontas Area started clicking on all cylinders. The Indians went on a 26-9 run to take control of the game.

“We just kind of came out flat in the third,” SEHS head coach CJ Tracy said. “We weren’t executing the plan as consistently as we did in the first half and things just spiraled from there. We’ve got to be able to correct mistakes in the flow of the game, and that is something we will work on here as the season winds down.”

Madison Vial scored 27 to lead all scorers for Pocahontas Area, as Danica Dreith added nine. Kristin Axman, Alayna Kakacek and Halee Hauswirth each scored eight.

Pocahontas Area is now 5-1 over the last six, with the lone loss coming to third-ranked (1A) Newell-Fonda.

“It was good to see the girls come back in the fourth and fight,” Tracy said. “We talked between quarters about never quitting and regardless of what the score is and they did that.”

St. Edmond returns to action Friday when they host Clear Lake.

POCAHONTAS AREA 68,

ST. EDMOND 34

St. Edmond — Sophia Schlienz 5, Anna Lursen 4, Payton Bradley 14, Chloe Palmer 5, Josie Harvey 6.

Pocahontas Area — Madison Vial 27, Kristin Axman 8, Khloe Mefferd 6, Danica Dreith 9, Alayna Kakacek 8, Natalie Point 2, Halee Hauswirth 8.

Quarter scores: Pocahontas Area led 13-9, 26-17, 52-26.