It was two dominating wins at Panther Gym on Thursday night, but Knoxville was only able to come away with one of those victories as the girls used suffocating defense to turn away Clarke 48-19 while the boys started off well but quickly got out of rhythm in a 90-61 loss to the Indians heard live on 95.3 KNIA. The girls game started slowly for both teams as scoring was hard to come by, but after a 6-0 run by Clarke to pull within three points late in the first half the Panthers put a 7-0 flurry of their own to take a 20-10 halftime lead and were never challenged for the rest of the game. Coach Matt Ritchhart said the defense was good and offense showed some life as the game wore on.

Ritchhart: “We scored 48 which was above our average and it didn’t feel like it. We got out in transition and scored off of a few turnovers, and our guard rotation was off due to Anna being gone, but we played well defensively so we can hang our hat on that and held them to 19 points, and if you do that you’re going to usually win.”

Emma Dunkin and Brittany Bacorn shared top scoring honors with 13 points each as Knoxville improved to 7-5 on the season and 4-3 in the South Central Conference. The boys game had the exact opposite results from the girls, as Knoxville jumped out to a 6-1 lead on two three point baskets, but Clarke settled in and took control from there to win going away 90-61. The Indians used their size and athleticism to dominate the game. Landen Norris scored 21 points to lead Knoxville who fell to 2-8 on the season and 2-5 in the conference. The boys will host Class 1A #5 Grandview Christian on Tuesday while the girls are off until next Friday at Davis County.