Harrisburg Boys Grind Out Win, Kirksville Girls Cruise to Win at Macon Tournament

The Harrisburg Bulldogs earned a hard-fought win over the Centralia Panthers 53-42 Tuesday, while the Kirksville Lady Tigers cruised to a win over Harrisburg 57-23 on night two of the Macon Tournament.

In the boys game, Harrisburg took the lead late in the first quarter and held the advantage for the remainder of the contest. Forward Jace Carr got the Bulldogs offense going, scoring 12 of the first 16 points of the game for Harrisburg.

Brandon Monty with the calls on KRES and centralmoinfo.com. The Bulldogs led 8-7 after the first quarter and fought off several runs from Centralia for the next three quarters. Bulldogs head coach Kyle Fisher offered his final takeaways of the win…

Carr and Tanner Lanes led the Bulldogs with 14 points each. Centralia cut the deficit to four multiple times in the second half, but was never able to take the lead. Centralia was also without senior point guard Beau Gordon for most of the game after he twisted his ankle in the first quarter. Panthers head coach Scott Humphrey was pleased with his team’s effort in the contest.

Grant Erisman scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter for Centralia. Harrisburg is now 12-3 on the year and takes on Kirksville Wednesday night in its second game of the tournament. Centralia is now 6-9 on the year and will face Marceline in the fifth place game Friday.

In the girls game, the Kirksville Lady Tigers pulled away late in the first quarter en route to their eighth consecutive victory. Kirksville connected on 10 three-pointers in the game, including a stretch of three consecutive triples in the first half.

The Lady Tigers had three different scorers in double figures. Corinne Vorkink and Elli Porter each had 13 while Channing Totta had 12. Lady Tigers head coach Nick Totta was pleased with the selflessness of his team’s offense…

Harrisburg was led by Carli Ellis with 10 points. Lady Bulldogs head coach Ryan Richardson says that while his team played better in the second half, they need to come out more prepared in games moving forward.

Kirksville is now 12-2 on the year and looks to extend its winning streak Wednesday against Mexico. Harrisburg is 8-8 on the season and will face Marceline in the fifth place game Friday. You can find full postgame interviews with all coaches with this story at centralmoinfo.com.

Kirksville Lady Tigers coach Nick Totta: