Prep Girls Hoops: Harrisburg downs WF for senior night win

Jessica Hopson scored 28 points and connected on six 3-pointers as Harrisburg closed the home portion of its schedule with an 81-68 victory over West Frankfort Tuesday evening at Davenport Gym.

Hopson was one of four starters in double figures for head coach Jake Stewart’s team which matched last season’s win total as it improved to 22-6 (5-4 SIRR Ohio).

“I thought we played a really good game,” said Stewart. “Anytime you put up 81 points offensively in a game, you did a good job. We hit shots, we made the right passes and for the most part, I thought we defended well.”

Sophomore Karsyn Davis dropped in 17 points while Lotte Miller scored 15 and Matty Hawkins added 14 points.

Senior Toni Crisp, who was honored before the game, scored five, and Madeline Rider added two.

Crisp, the team’s only senior, also was honored with the Tara Glover Purpose Award which was given in honor of the 1988 Carmi graduate who passed away in 2013 from cancer.

West Frankfort senior Morgan Griffith scored 28 points and has now amassed over 750 points in her senior season. Junior Cali Wright scored 22 while Megan Beery scored 14 points.

Harrisburg has won two of its three meetings with the Redbirds (12-10, 4-5) this winter. The two clubs could potentially meet again in a 2A regional championship at West Frankfort a week from Thursday.

Harrisburg 81 West Frankfort 68

WF (68): Griffith 10 7-8 28, Wright 6 7-7 22, Davis 1 0-0 2, Beery 5 0-0 14, Prather 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 14-15 68.

HBG (81): Lo. Miller 4 7-10 15, Hawkins 5 4-4 14, Davis 6 2-2 17, Hopson 9 4-4 28, Crisp 1 3-4 5, Rider 0 2-2 2, Ly. Miller 0 0-1 0. Totals 25 22-27 81.

3-pointers: WF 8 (Beery 4, Wright 3, Griffith), HBG 9 (Hopson 6, Davis 3). Team Fouls: WF 21, HBG 14. Records: WF is 12-10 (4-5), HBG is 22-6 (5-4).

Galatia 42, Pope County 37

Galatia earned a 42-37 win over Pope County Monday night to move to Thursday night’s Greater Egyptian Conference game with No. 1 seed and host Gallatin County .

The Bearcats improved to 11-12 overall with the win, where Kennedy Harris led Galatia in scoring with 22 points.

“Kennedy Harris kept us in the game during the times we were sluggish in the half court scoring 22 points,” GHS head coach Denise Clayton said. “She has always been hard to defend in transition, but with her ability now to mix it up in the open court she can really get to the rim.”

No other player scored in double figures for the Bearcats, who got nine points from Mallory Mays, seven points from Kassidy Rizor, two points from Kelsi Watson and one point from both Madison Murphy and Baley Crisp.

Galatia jumped out to a 12-7 start, but trailed 17-15 at halftime as Pope County outscored the Bearcats 10-3 in the second quarter.

The Bearcats found their footing following halftime, outscoring Pope County 11-7 and continued that trend in the last eight minutes, outscoring the Pirates 16-13.

“Defensively we were able to prevent them from getting ball movement in the half court and our press forced them to turn the ball over consistently throughout the game,” Clayton added. “Mallory Mays and Madison Murphy both had great defensive nights and were able to keep two of Pope’s leading scorers to just one field goal total. We did not have a great night offensively in the half court until the 4th quarter when we began to get better ball movement and were able to start picking apart their zone.”

Galatia is set to play Gallatin County at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Harrisburg 61, Murphysboro 57

Lotte Miller had 19 points and was one of two other Harrisburg in double figures as Harrisburg knocked off Murphysboro 61-57 Monday night.

Matty Hawkins finished with 14 points, while Karsyn Davis tacked on 13 points.

Jessica Hopson netted nine for the Bulldogs, while Toni Crisp, Essence Sanders and Madeline Rider all had two points.

Fairfield 60, Eldorado 41

Takiya Britton had 13 points, while Olivia Parker tacked on 11 points in Eldorado’s 60-41 loss at Fairfield Monday night.

Derian Corn scored six points for the Eagles, while Paige Munds finished with five points. Madison Newton had four points and Rachel Stafford scored two points.