Middle School Hoops: Harrisburg solidifies spot in Final Four
The march to a junior high state championship started Saturday and Harrisburg took one big step forward.
The Bulldogs put their undefeated record on the line and came out unscathed, earning a 39-27 victory over Waterloo at Rend Lake College in front a raucous Harrisburg crowd.
Harrisburg jumped out to a 7-5 first quarter lead, but Waterloo knotted the score at 7 to start the second quarter. Waterloo took its only lead of the game 9-7 after a pair of free throws by Mallory Thompson with 3:17 to play and from there, Harrisburg closed out the quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 16-9 lead into the locker room.
Harrisburg (23-0) found their offensive footing in the third quarter, outscoring Waterloo 13-8 in putting some distance between the two ballclubs as HHS led by as many as 17 points in the final eight minutes.
"We talked at halftime about not letting them hang around and build confidence," Harrisburg head coach Marty Nicholes said afterwards. "We shot awful from the field and free throw line (5-for-15). We told the girls at halftime if we could come out in the third quarter and play our style of basketball we could finish them off. I'm just very proud of the defense we played (Saturday)."
Jamisen Green, who has averaged 17 points per game, had a game-high 15 points as the eighth grader scored 12 of her 15 in the second half, including seven points in the third quarter.
Hannah Rorer added eight points, six of which came in the second half, while Abi Wilson scored six points.
Koral Hathaway finished with five points, while Sallie Morse flipped in four points and Emma Harrison had a second quarter free throw.
With the win, Harrisburg moves into Tuesday night's semifinals where they will play O'Fallon at 6 p.m. A victory would put them in Saturday's championship at 11 a.m., while a loss puts them in the third place game at 9:30 a.m.
Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois LOCAL Media Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.