The North Mercer Lady Cardinals have been one of the most improved teams in the area from the start of the new year now heading for the month of February. On Thursday night in Meadville, the surge of Drew Smith’s team continued, as the Lady Cardinals took Tina-Avalon to overtime, before beating the Lady Dragons, 46-42.
Rayne Kost led Mercer with 16 points, sending the 7th seeded Lady Cardinals to Saturday afternoon’s championship game after two straight upsets (including 67-49 over #2 seed Hale on Tuesday). Khloey Forst led Tina-Avalon’s ladies with 15 points.
Mercer’s opponent in the girls championship game (Saturday / 4 PM) will be the Grundy County Lady Panthers, in a rematch of a game won by the Panthers in Mercer earlier this month. Grundy County, the #1 seed in the Meadville Tournament, defeated Linn County on Thursday night, 55-22. Jandie Peterson had 20 points and 5 steals to lead the Lady Panthers forces, with Anna Milazzo adding 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Mercer boys took a second victory over Linn County in five nights, beating the Mustangs in the Meadville semifinals, 66-58. Isaiah Morgana had 21 points to lead the Cardinals, with Jase White scoring 14 for the Mustangs.
Mercer, in Saturday night’s 5:30 title game, will take on the host Meadville Eagles, a 62-55 semifinal winner over Northwestern. In the Meadville victory on Thursday night, Dominik Gannan led a balanced offensive attack with 15 points. Wade Adams nearly scored half of Northwestern’s points, with a game-high 27.
On Wednesday night, the Northwestern girls and Hale girls won consolation semifinal tests (63-49 for Northwestern over Bucklin/Macon County and Hale over Meadville 58-52). The Lady Eagles and Lady Cardinals will play at 4:30 on Friday in the girls consolation final. In the boys consolation semifinals, Hale beat BMC 62-34 while Grundy R-5 defeated Tina-Avalon, 62-34. The Grundy Panther boys play at 5:45 on Friday night in the consolation final at Meadville, followed by Linn County and Tina-Avalon in the girls third place game at 7 o’clock, and the Linn County boys against Northwestern in the boys third place game at 8:15.
Saturday’s schedule at Meadville High School includes just the two title games, with the Grundy-Mercer girls showdown at 4 o’clock, and the Meadville-Mercer boys game at 5:30.
