The Grundy County R-5 Lady Panthers continue to be one of the “feel good” stories of the 2017-2018 basketball season, racking up another impressive victory, the latest triumph coming Monday night in the quarterfinals of the Milan Tournament.
Behind 19 points, 13 rebounds, and five steals from Aubrey Gann, Grundy beat the Putnam County Lady Midgets 62-49. Jandie Peterson had 13 points and seven steals; with Breanna Carpio adding 12 bench points, and Morgan Axtell 10 points and four helpers for the Lady Panthers, now 8-2 on the season.
The win sends Grundy R-5 into the semifinals, where a likely re-match with Green City awaits. The Lady Gophers, the #1 seed in the Milan Tournament, hammered the Lady Panthers 56-21 on December 7th. Tonight, the Lady Gophers play #8 seed Novinger (4:30 PM) in the Milan quarterfinals, with the winner advancing to play Grundy R-V on Thursday afternoon at 4:30.
Putnam County drops to the consolation side of the bracket, with the Lady Midgets playing the Green City/Novinger loser on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30.
On the bottom half of the Milan girl’s bracket, the #2 seed Brashear Lady Tigers survived an upset bid by Bucklin/Macon County, winning 45-43. The win sends Brashear into a 7:30 semifinal on Thursday night against either #3 seed Milan or #6 seed Linn County (they play tonight at 7:30). BMC drops into the 7:30 Wednesday consolation semifinal round against the Milan/Linn County loser.
The Putnam County boys, coming off a third-place finish at the Marceline Tournament and a Saturday win over Meadville, kept the good Midget momentum going with a 68-37 win over Grundy R-5 on Monday night at Milan High School. For the Panthers in the defeat, Cooper Lewis had 11 points, with Bryson Gann adding seven points and seven rebounds. Putnam County, at 9 o’clock on Thursday night, will play either #2 seed Linn County or #7 seed Brashear in the Milan semifinals. The Mustangs and Tigers meet in a 9 o’clock quarterfinal tonight from MHS. The Grundy boys play the Linn County-Brashear loser at 9 o’clock on Wednesday night.
The Novinger Wildcats sprung a 5 over 4 seed upset of Green City, winning 64-61 on Monday night, pushing the Wildcats into a likely semifinal test with top-seeded, unbeaten Milan. The 13-0 Milan Wildcats play Bucklin/Macon County tonight (Tuesday night) at 6 o’clock. The Gophers fall into the consolation round, for a 6 o’clock semifinal on Wednesday night.
