A pair of former Rome area stars — Shelby Farrer and Ieshia Alexander — combined for 25 points but the Shorter women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome a slow start on Friday.

Playing in the fifth-place game of the NCCAA Division I Championship in Winona Lake, Ind., the fifth-seeded Lady Hawks suffered a 64-56 loss to third-seeded Cedarville.

Farrer, a former Model standout, led Shorter with 13 points in her final game as a Lady Hawk.

Alexander, a former standout at Coosa, finished with 12 points for the Lady Hawks, and Kristin Nash had 10.

Kayla Jenerette scored a game-high 20 points for Cedarville (19-9), which withstood a furious Shorter rally in the final minutes.

Shorter didn’t end the postseason without hardware — the Lady Hawks will hang a NCCAA South Region Championship banner in the Winthrop-King Centre. The team has now made four straight national tournament appearances, with the previoys three coming in the NAIA ranks.

The Lady Hawks nearly bounced completely back from a rough first half and a 21-point deficit in the second half with a huge comeback that spanned the final six minutes of the game.

Shorter trailed 51-30 with 14:39 to play as Cedarville rode the hot shooting of Jenerette to build what appeared to be an insurmountable edge.

The Lady Yellow Jackets still led by 18, 55-37, on a Taylor Vander Plas 3 as the shot clock expired at the 10:32 mark.

But the Lady Hawks made a late push.

Shorter trailed 60-47 with just under six minutes to go, but embarked on a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to cut the deficit to 60-54 on two Ieshia Alexander free throws.

The Lady Hawks got stops on Cedarville’s next three possessions, but went 0-for-3 on the offensive end over that same span and were unable to creep any closer.

Jenerette ended Shorter’s hopes by burying a 3-pointer with 39.1 seconds left.

Cedarville’s first half performance proved to be too much in the end for the Lady Hawks.

The Lady Yellow Jackets built a 40-26 halftime lead by holding Shorter to 22 percent shooting while hitting 53 percent of their attempts from the field.

Jenerette hit a pair of treys and finished the first half with 13 points – her second 3 of the first period capped a 21-7 spurt by the Lady Yellow Jackets that put Cedarville up 29-15 with 7:43 left until halftime after the game had been tied at 8.

Cedarville never let Shorter closer than 14 heading into the break.

Shorter never made it all the way back, but put Cedarville under plenty of pressure down the stretch, setting a foundation for what could be an exciting 2013-14 season.

Karisma Boykin, who was named a first team NCCAA All-American, chipped in with five points, six rebounds and three steals.