Lady Knights draw Jersey playoff visit
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Photo by Anthony Jones: During conference play, Triad’s Delaney Hess defends the hoop.
By Anthony Jones
sports.times.tribune@gmail.com
The IHSA postseason brackets for girls basketball have been released and Triad will open play against a familiar face.
Tournament play for the Lady Knights will begin on Feb. 11, when they visit the Jersey Panthers. Jersey earned home court advantage courtesy of their seventh seed besting Triad’s ranking of eighth.
In their two regular season meetings, Triad and Jersey both won their home contest. The Lady Knight’s victory came in 55-48 fashion, while the Panthers eked out a 48-45 win.
The winner of that contest will advance to the Highland Regional semifinal against the hosting Bulldogs on Feb. 13. Highland is the top-seeded team on their side of the sectional bracket.
If the Lady Knights reach that second round matchup, they will have the benefit of recently playing the Bulldogs on Feb. 2.
That recent matchup saw Triad test their 4-19 record at the home of the 20-7 Bulldogs.
The Mississippi Valley Conference leading hosts set the tone early with a 12-2 run out of tipoff. Their lead was tamed to 14-6 by the time the first quarter’s buzzer rang.
Second quarter baskets from Makenna Witham and Savannah Hildebrand drew the game closer at 18-11, but would mark the final first half tallies for the visitors. Highland took full advantage of their scoring drought to grow their lead by ten prior to halftime.
Five third quarter points from Witham did help Triad close the gap, but they still faced a 39-24 deficit with a quarter to play.
A Highland fourth quarter secured a 54-33 final.
Witham finished with a Triad-best of nine points and Sam Hartoin tacked on eight more.
While the final score was a disappointment, Coach Josh Hunt appreciated his team’s persistent effort against a strong Highland squad, “They fight really hard. Highland’s a really good team, they’ve got really good shooters and a six foot post player. They’ve won 21 games for a reason. They’re a solid solid team and they executed well tonight.”
