Prep Girls Hoops: Harrisburg girls win own Invite for third straight season

Coming out of the Harrisburg Invitational, the narrative from most was the same for the host Bulldogs as they won their third straight title after a 71-41 victory over Eldorado Saturday night.

Jake Stewart heard it all during the week: "dominant," "as good as advertised," and all the Harrisburg head coach was worried about was winning one game.

"This week was really about getting better and trying to establish our bench," Stewart said after his team went 4-0 and won by an average margin of 32 points throughout the week.

"I know we played 10 people (Saturday) and we played a lot of people throughout the week and went nine or 10 deep all week, but that's what we needed to do, to see who can play where and with who."

Harrisburg put four players in double figures as Jessica Hopson led the charge with a team-high 16 points. Hopson was 4-of-9 from behind the arc and 5-of-12 from the field, helping Harrisburg to the win.

Lotte Miller tacked on 12 points, while Matty Hawkins notched 11 and Lydia Miller rounded out the double digit scoring with 10 points off the bench.

Madeline Rider scored seven points and Karsyn Davis chipped in with six points, while Brooke Meylor flipped in five points. Essence Sanders tacked on three points and Lauren McDaniel tossed in a free throw.

Rachel Stafford led Eldorado with 18 points and was 7-of-12 shooting from the field, while going 4-of-7 from 3-point range.

Paige Munds added eight points for the Eagles and Takiya Britton scored six points. Lexie Mitchell tacked on three points, while Derian Corn finished with four points. Madison Newton tossed in two points and Emma Wargel had a free throw for the Eagles.

<b>Friday: Harrisburg rolls past Anna-Jonesboro<b/>

Harrisburg jumped out to a 16-7 first quarter lead and led 28-17 at halftime and then outscored Anna-Jonesboro 29-7 in the third quarter to win 65-29 Friday night.

Davis torched the nets for a team-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, going 2-of-5 from long range. Hopson had 10 to also finish in double figures for Harrisburg.

Meylor and Hawkins each scored seven points, while Rider chipped in with six points. Ivy Brown finished with five points, while Lotte Miller and Sanders each finished with four points. McDaniel had three for the Bulldogs.

Sydney Heath had a team-high 10 points for Anna-Jonesboro.

<b>Eldorado comes up short in loss to West Frankfort<b/>

Despite putting three players in double figures, including a team-high 18 points from Lexie Mitchell, Eldorado's rally came up short in a 59-58 loss to West Frankfort Friday night.

Jade Hise and Munds each scored 11 points for Eldorado in the loss. Also, Britton and Newton each scored six points, while Corn finished with four points. Zakiya Britton tossed in two points.

West Frankfort got a game-high 22 points from Cali Wright, while Madison Freeman finished with 14 points and Madison Carpenter added 11 for the Redbirds.

<b>Wednesday: Harrisburg doubles up Carmi<b/>

Lotte Miller had 20 points as Harrisburg beat Carmi-White County 61-31 Wednesday night.

Hopson and Davis each netted nine points for the Bulldogs, while Meylor and Brown finished with five points. Hawkins flipped in four points, while Sanders (3), Lydia Miller (2) and McDaniel (2) rounded out the scoring for Harrisburg.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Register, Eldorado Journal & The Gallatin County Democrat.

Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.