The Grundy R-5 basketball teams made the trek to Mercer Tuesday night for a pair of late-season HDC Conference contests. Each school came away from the night’s match-ups with a win as the Mercer girls took a 56-19 win over the R-5 Lady Panthers while the Grundy R-5 Panthers grabbed a 66-50 victory over Mercer in the boys game.
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Girls
The Lady Cardinals jumped out on the Lady Panthers with a 12-6 run in the first quarter. It was the second quarter, however, when the Lady Cardinals really grabbed control of the contest. Mercer went on an 18-5 run to take a 30-11 halftime lead.
Mercer continued to out-do themselves in the third quarter as they outscored the Lady Panthers 18-3. Going into the final frame, Mercer had the game well in hand, leading 48-14. The Lady Cardinals were on cruise control through the fourth quarter and went on to take the win.
Jessica Coon was the Lady Cardinals’ leading scorer on the night, putting up 14 points. Sydney Stark also hit double figures, putting up 10 points. Mandy Eastin added nine points and Sari Michaelis had eight.
Grundy R-5 was led by Heather Vivone, who put up a game-high 16 points.
The Lady Cardinals improved to 10-12 on the season and 4-5 in HDC play. The Lady Panthers, meanwhile, fell to 0-21 and 0-9 in HDC action.
Boys
The Grundy R-5 boys held off a Mercer rally and denied a Cardinal sweep of the night’s games with a win.
The Panthers burst out of the gates with a 15-4 run in the first quarter. The Grundy R-5 offense continued to click in the second quarter, but Mercer began to rachet up their game and played evenly with the Panthers until the halftime buzzer. The Cardinals could not shave any points off the Panthers’ lead and at the break, Grundy led 33-21.
The third quarter was all Mercer as the Cardinals roared back with a 22-10 run to tie the game at 43-43. The Panthers weathered the storm, however, and bounced back with a strong fourth quarter. Grundy’s offense took complete control of the game, putting up 23 points. The Panthers’ defense was strong as well, holding Mercer to just seven points giving the Panthers the 16-point win.
“Mercer made a great comeback to tie the score after three quarters,” Grundy Head Coach Les Jackson said. “But we came out aggressive on both ends of the court in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.”
Grundy R-5 was led by Tyler Jackson and Bryce Rains, both of whom scored 22 points. Jackson added six rebounds and seven assists while Rains added six steals. Adam Buckner gave the Panthers eight points and 14 rebounds while Jordan Whitney and Shawn Gott each pitched in seven points.
Mercer was led by Tim Bomgardner, who scored a team-high 17 points. Ty Noe also hit double digits, scoring 11 points and Colton Miller added nine.
The win boosted the Panthers to 9-13 overall and 5-3 in HDC play. Mercer dropped to 7-13 with the loss and 4-5 in HDC action.
Grundy will return to action Friday night when they host North Harrison for what will be the Panthers’ homecoming and Senior Night games. Tip time for the girls game is set for 6 p.m.
Mercer’s next action will be Friday as they face North Daviess in a girls-only match-up. Tip time for that game is set for 6:30 p.m. in Jameson.