The road trips continue for the Knoxville Basketball Squads as the Panthers head to Eldon to face Cardinal. The Panthers got a sweep over the Comets in the last meeting on December 6th with the girls eeking out a 43-38 win while the boys rolled over Cardinal 90-32. Both teams are confident they can pull off wins in Eldon tonight. The girls have lost seven straight games but have shown signs of improvement in the last few games. Going into tonight’s game, Coach Matt Ritchhart says the confidence is high, but realizes nothing has come easy for his team.

Ritchhart “This stretch where we played Pella, Newton, Eddyville, and Pella Christian. This has been a grind the last few games, and hopefully we can get back in the win column.”

With a good scoring game, Hannah Dunkin could become just the 6th girl in Knoxville history to score 1,000 career points. She is 22 away and scored her season high of 24 against Carindfal on December 6th. The boys on paper should feel relieved to face Cardinal after running through Pella Christian and Albia this week. The class 3A 5th ranked Panthers are not letting it go to their heads. Junior Point Guard Drake Larson tells KNIA/KRLS Sports the goal is to run the table through the South Central Conference, and it takes one game at a time.

Larson: “The sky’s the limit. We’ve been doing this from the summer and inviting everyone we could and getting everyone in the gym, and this is what it leads to.”

Live coverage on the radio home for the Panthers 95.3 KNIA is at 5:45 with the girls tip at 6:00.