River Girls Knock off Southern Local to Advance to OVAC Championship Game

The Lady Pilots wasted no time establishing dominance on Monday night, at Hannibal, as they hosted Southern Local in an OVAC semi-final girls basketball game. The Pilots took an early lead behind the play of guard Kelsey Harlan and Rylee Knight who both ended with game highs of 23 points, in leading the home squad to an easy 68-37 victory.

Harlan a junior three year starter passed the 1, 000 point mark for her career with 1,002 total following her output on Monday. She finished the contest with three baskets from beyond the arc. Knight who has been one of the Pilots key players all year had a fantastic game as she dropped in 11 baskets on the night and went 1-2 from the free throw line. She also collared seven rebounds and added two assists.

Hannah Raper hit for eight points in support for the Pilots, and Emma Reed nailed six. Tessa Prim added four and Reese Hobbs got two to round out the scoring for River.

Southern was led by A. Shroades with 12 points. The visitors hit 15 field goals and went 4-9 from the free throw line. River made 31 shots from the floor including three 3ás and made 3-5 from the charity stripe. They advanced to play Wheeling Central in the Championship Game on Saturday for the OVAC 2A Championship at Harrison Central high school at 10 a.m.

River Girls Wins OVAC 2A Title Over Wheeling Central

In a game that looked like it could go either way ended up with the number one seed River Pilots getting a 57-46 win over a scrappy Wheeling Central team on Saturday morning at Harrison Central High School.

It took a valient effort on the part of River’s Rylee Knight who finished as the games leading scorer with 21 points, and a double-double pulling down 21 rebounds as well. However she was not a one person show as the Pilots All-State candidate guard Kelsey Harlan also came up big with 19 points, while Hannah Raper gave them three double digit scorers knocking in 12 points of her own.

Harlan who comes to play every game hit for 23 points in the semi-final against Southern Local and was awarded the MVP of the tournament. in Saturday’s contest against the Maroon Knights she totaled seven steals and eight assists to go along with her scoring.

“Hats off to Kelsey, our point guard,” Isaly said. “She can do it all, drive, shoot, play defense, and Rylee was just a beast on the boards.”

River led most of the way, but Central managed to take a one point lead midway through the second quarter on a 3-point shot, however the Pilots scored the next eight points to retake the lead at halftime.

The third quarter belonged mostly to River as they went up 19 points, with Harlan hitting a 3-pointer and Rylee and Raper also scoring buckets. Wheeling Central got into foul trouble and River took advantage in the third to get the big lead. The fourth quarter saw Central put on a comeback hitting a few 3-pointers and getting some looks inside to draw to within six before the Pilots regained composure and finished the contest on a run of their own to get the victory.

Despite a decided height advantage inside by Central River’s Knight made her presence known as she pulled down several rebounds in traffic and blocked a pair of shots to control the lane. Raper hit eight of her 12 points in the first half when the contest was going back and forth.

Central was led by Vogrin with 12 points , followed by Olejasz’s 10, Edge’s nine, and eight from Downing.