WEST FRANKFORT — Pinckneyville and West Frankfort picked up wins on the second night of the West Frankfort girls Mid-Winter Classic setting up a showdown for the tournament title Thursday night.

The Panthers improved to 2-0 in the tourney using a dominant second half to beat Herrin 66-49. Pinckneyville led 39-35 at the half and then scored the first 12 points of the third quarter, while holding the Tigers scoreless for the first 7:09 of the quarter.

Moe Morgenthaler led a balanced Pinckneyville attack with 18, 16 of those coming in the first half. Olivia Wiggers added 13, with Emily Ruppert and Emily Baggett tallying 10 each. Karli Mann led Herrin with 17.

In the nightcap, the host Lady Redbirds used a 10-0 run in the second quarter to take control, and they went to beat Sesser-Valier/Waltonville 53-35. SVW held a 12-10 lead early in the second, before West Frankfort scored 10 straight on the way to a 28-19 halftime lead.

Aleah Russell led four Lady Redbirds in double figures with 14 points. Freshman Evyn Lemmon added 13 with another freshman, Makayla Shelton, scoring 11. Bailey Neibch added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Lady Redbirds.

SVW’s Patrice Laur led all scorers with 18.

The girls portion of the Mid-Winter Classic will wrap up Thursday night with SVW and Herrin at 6:00 followed by Pinckneyville and West Frankfort at 7:30 in the de facto championship game.

On the boys’ side, Herrin defeated Cairo 74-30 setting a