Mercer Cardinals advance through South Harrison Tournament’s early rounds

The Mercer Cardinals, the newest entry to the South Harrison Invitational Basketball Tournament, have advanced their girls team into a championship game, with the Cardinal boys in the semifinal round of the annual event in Bethany.

On Wednesday night, in action heard on KTTN FM 92.3, the Lady Cardinals used an overpowering first-half performance to beat rival Princeton, 61-41 in the semifinal round.  Bailey Owens led Mercer with 26 points, while Lindsay Wyatt added 12.  Princeton, down by 29 at the half (41-12), played a strong second half, putting three players in double figures by the end of the contest.  Jaelyn Thomas had 13 points, Lindsey Batson 11, and Payton Goodin 10 for PHS.

The win sends the #3 ranked Lady Cardinals into an all-HDC Conference championship affair with North Harrison, after the Lady Shamrocks went overtime on Wednesday night to stun the host South Harrison Lady Bulldogs, 59-54.  South Harrison, a 57-40 winner at Princeton last Friday night, will face a rematch with the Lady Tigers in the third place game.

In girls consolation round games on Wednesday night, Putnam County cruised to a 52-22 win over the Maysville Lady Wolverines, while the East Harrison Lady Bobcats downed Northeast Nodaway, 50-29.  Putnam County will meet East Harrison in the consolation final, while Maysville and NEN meet for 7th.  Game times and locations could change in the near future due to the impending icy weather predicted for the weekend.

On Tuesday night, the boys quarterfinals were played in Bethany, where the #1 seeded Mercer Cardinals triumphed over North Harrison, 56-23, and the Maysville Wolverines claimed a close, hard-fought 63-59 win over Princeton.  Mercer and Maysville will play in a 7:30 semifinal on Thursday night, with North Harrison playing Princeton at 4:30.

On the bottom half of the boys bracket, the South Harrison boys looked very impressive, in a 78-39 beat-down of the Northeast Nodaway Blue Jays.  The Bulldogs, on Thursday night at 9 o’clock, will duel with the Putnam County Midgets, a 55-49 winner over East Harrison in the quarterfinals.  Northeast Nodaway’s boys will take on East Harrison at 6 o’clock on Thursday night in consolation semifinal action.