It was a Panther sweep on Coaches vs. Cancer night in Knoxville as the Panther girls recovered from a first half dry spell to win 45-36, while the boys had no issues in pounding Chariton 79-33 in games heard live on 95.3 KNIA. In the opener, Knoxville raced out to a 10-0 lead only to see the Chargers finish the first half on a 15-4 run to take a 15-14 lead at the break. Knoxville came out and started to employ a 3/4 court zone press and caused the Chargers to give up the ball and led to points the other way. Assistant Coach Troy Pearson gave credit to the girls for executing the defense when they have only worked on it a few times in practice.

Pearson:
“I got to give credit to our girls, we practiced it 2 or 3 times and I knew if we did it right we could cause problems for Chariton and I think the girls did a good job for no more than we practiced it.”

Maggie Wilkins scored 21 points to lead the Knoxville charge while Emma Dunkin was in double digits with ten. In the night cap, the boys bolted out to a 16-3 start and had Chariton in their rear view mirror all night. Knoxville had the lead in the first half up to 30 after Luke Keitges drained a three pointer at the halftime buzzer for the second consecutive night.

Knoxville would quickly invoke the running clock rule and get the lead to as high as 47 points before settling for the 46 point win. Coach Matt Ritchhart told KNIA/KRLS Sports he thought his team was focused all game and liked the way they rebounded.

Ritchhart:
“We really moved the ball really well, I think we need to get inside a little more, but on defense I think they we doals in and the rebounding advantage Coach Keady told me was 45-14 so that’s a good margin.”

Kieren Nichols and Spencer Hixson shared high point honors with 20 while Keitges tallied 18. The Knoxville girls are 9-3 and 6-1 in the South Central Conference while the boys go to 7-4 and also 6-1 in conference play. Both teams will travel to Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Tuesday.