CARTERVILLE — The Nashville Hornettes made sure it would be an all-River to River-Mississippi sectional championship in Carterville when they beat Harrisburg 44-36 Tuesday night. This was the fourth straight year these two teams have met in the sectional semifinals.
The Hornettes will now face the host Lions for the third time this season–this time to go to the state quarterfinals. Carterville won the first two meetings by a combined total of nine points.
In a surprisingly high scoring first quarter, Nashville closed on a 9-2 run to lead 17-11 after one. The Hornettes held that six point cushion at halftime as well as after three quarters. Harrisburg opening the third with five straight points, but Nashville pushed the lead back to six heading to the fourth.
The lead bounce between four and six until Sabrina Kollbaum hit a three-pointer off of an offensive rebound to extend the lead to nine with 3:40 to play.
Alyssa Cole led Nashville with 12. Kollbaum added ten. Harrisburg’s Lydia Miller led all scorers with 14. She scored all 14 of those points in the second half, after sitting most of the first half due to foul trouble.
Nashville will face Carterville at 7:00 Thursday, with the winner advancing to the Hamilton County Supersectional. Harrisburg ends another great season at 29-5.