Huskies advance to Sectional Championship

BY D.J. WATSON Harrison News-Herald Sports Writer

MORRISTOWN—What a difference two weeks can make. Just 14 days to the date, removed from a 64-52 setback at the

Jr.

BY SHARON DALTON

Harrison News-Herald Sports Writer

CADIZ—The seventh-grade Lady Huskies hosted the Edison Wildcats on Saturday. The Huskies got off to a good start leading at the half 10-8. However, the Wildcats took charge in the fourth quarter pulling ahead to win 2521. Leading scorers for the Dawgs were Kelsey Powers with 7, and Ava Huffman threw in three 2-point shots.

The eighth-grade Lady Huskies headed to Conotton Valley’s new facility with a winning attitude last week. The Huskies led most of the contest. Randee Hennis led the scoring with 12 points. Bailey Smith threw up 9, and Mikayla Pelegreen contributed 7. Brooklyn Kelly led the Rockets with 20 points, and Leah Humley put up 5 points. Final score HC 41-CV 25.

Back in Husky territory on Saturday, the eighth-grade Huskies continued their winning streak against the Edison Wildcats. The hotshooting Huskies raced to a 21-12 halftime lead. Edison mounted a comeback in the second half only to fall short. Final score HC 47-Edison 42. Double-figure scorers for the Huskies were Mikayla Pelegreen with 14, Bailey Smith added 12, and Kamryn Crothers rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10.

hands of the Union Local Jets, the Harrison Central Huskies have exacted their revenge. And revenge comes much sweeter when the calendar reads tournament time.

The Huskies (8-seed) and Jets (7-seed) tipped off OHSAA Div. III bracket play this past Tuesday on the campus of Union Local High School, and the two schools delivered quite the gem in first-round play. Ultimately, the Huskies survived the physical contest with a 60-58 victory. As the Huskies were putting the finishing touches on their own survive-andadvance effort, an announcement was made inside “The Hangar” that the 9thseeded Buckeye Trail Warriors had knocked off the 2nd-seeded Martins Ferry Purple Riders.

Youth basketball heats up

BY ED BANKS

Harrison News-Herald Sports Writer

JEWETT—As time goes by, the young basketballers of the Busby Wildcat Center in Jewett are finding the range to score more team points. The results from the February 4 contests indicate just how well they have begun to find the basket.

Game results are as follows: Bandits over the Wildcats 26-6, Spartans over the Vikings 22-20, Knights over the Warriors 21-11, and the Hornets over the Ducks 32-10.

The team game leaderboard looks is as follows: (Bulls) Kamden Vancuren 5 points, Audrey Coffman and Brandan Kelly 2 points; (Wildcats) Bentley Slocum 4 points and Jordan Miller 2 points; (Warriors) Dalton Cumings 7 points, Bently Dulkoski and Declan Richards 2 points; (Hornets) Kingston Smith 16 points, Anthony Fife, Braxton McAfee, Hunter McAfee, and Stella Miller 4 points each; (Vikings) Brodie Sweeny 8 points and Isabelle Knight 4 points each; (Spartans) Colson Crothers 14 points and Jax Triplet 4 points; (Ducks) Liam Stillwagon and Neely Ryder 4 points each; (Bandits) Trenton Blawut and Logan DeWeese 10 points each; and (Knights) Waylon Hopkins 10 points and JB Visser 9 points.

The season overall point leaders (over 30 points) are as follows: Kingston Smith 73, Colson Crothers 50, JB Visser 41, Trenton Blawut 37, and Bentley Slocum 36.

Why is that important, one might ask? Well, as the higher seed in the sectional championship round, the Huskies will now get the opportunity to clinch a sectional title on their home floor this weekend against the Warriors.

Against the Jets, it was a three-headed monster for Head Coach Aaron Foldi and the Huskies. Senior Jace Madzia finished with a team-high 19 points. Hayden Cassidy followed up on that effort with a 16-point line. And last but not least, sophomore Mykel Quito poured in 15 marks, 13 of which came in the second half.

Harrison held a slim 11-10 advantage after the opening frame. The Jets flipped the script going into the halftime break, leading the Huskies 26-24 at the intermission. The largest lead of the first half for either team landed on four points, as Union Local pulled ahead 2420 with 1:38 remaining in the second quarter. It was the second half that would see a series of scoring runs that separated the two evenlymatched squads.

The Jets raced out of the break, posting the first five points to take a 31-24 lead. A triple and a fastbreak dunk silenced the Huskies’ faithful for the time being, but moments later, the visiting stands would be roaring again. Harrison matched Union Local’s scoring spurt with an 11-3 run of their own, with Mykel Quito capping off the sequence at the free throw line for a three-point play the old- fashioned way.

The game now squared away at 35-all, three lead changes ensued as the third quarter clock diminished. The Huskies grabbed their biggest lead of the night to close out the eight-minute stretch, as Cabot Arbaugh (first game back from injury) rattled home a hard-earned bucket underneath the rim to push the Harrison lead to 48-42.

Quito opened up the final frame by sinking a pair from the charity stripe. Hayden Cassidy then popped a ball away from the Jets’ backcourt, leading to a fastbreak layin for Daniel Ody. The result was an excited Harrison fanbase and a 52-42 lead with 5:40 remaining. However, it was as if Lee Corso was in the house to deliver one of his famous “notso-fast-my friend” moments.

Coming out of a forced timeout, the Jets rode the hot hands of D.J. Butts and Beezer Porter to rip off nine straight points. The Jets tied the game on three separate occasions down the stretch, but they failed to string together two consecutive scoring possessions to overcome the Huskies.

Madzia came up big at the free-throw line in the closing moments, with Quito and Ody both delivering huge buckets to close out the Jets.

The winner of this weekend’s co-sectional championship will meet the winner of (11) Coshocton and (3) Garaway in the East District semi-finals.