First place in the South Central Conference girls basketball standings is on the line tonight in Centerville as Knoxville makes the trip south. The Panthers are coming off a 1-1 weekend after falling to Bondurant-Farrar on Friday and beating Newton in Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday afternoon. Centerville will counter with momentum after starting 1-3 this season, as the Reddettes have reeled off five straight wins, and like the Panthers, are 4-0 in the conference. Coach Jim Uitermarkt tells KRLS Sports this will be a tough matchup for his girls due to Centerville’s guards and size in the post.

Uitermarkt:
“They’ve got two really good guards in Stevens and Matthews that are from what we’ve seen on film and a lot better than what they were last year. Then after those two they go 5/11, six foot, and six foot so they got a lot of size and quick guards. So that’s going to be a tough one to go down there and play them on the road.”

On the boys side, the Panthers look to take care of business and not overlook the Big Reds with Albia on the horizon this Friday. Centerville boasts of one of class 3A’s top scorers in Matt McDonald, who averages just under 22 points per game. Knoxville Coach Jeff Larson tells KRLS Sports it will be business as usual for his team, go up tempo and not allow Centerville to settle in its physical half-court defense.

Larson:
“They’re physical and they bang you, they do a lot of good things. We’re going to have to go up tempo and not let teams set up in their half-court defense. That’s what we’re looking to do right now.”

Knoxville’s Kieren Nichols is the state’s second leading scorer in class 3A as just under 29 points per game. Listen to the call on 95.3 KNIA with Derek Cardwell and Tyler Vaske with the pregame at 6:15pm and the tip off of the girls game at 6:30pm.