Today's Sports

The Harrison County Fillies nearly pulled the upset of the year on Tuesday night in the first round of the 10th Region Tournament, held on the Hilltop.

For three quarters, Harrison County executed their game-plan to near perfection and had an unlikely 35-31 lead over highly-regarded Clark County.

The fourth quarter was a different story altogether, however. The Cardinals played flawlessly down the stretch, converted their free throws and outscored the Fillies 32-12 for a deceptive 63-47 win.

For the first time since 2002, the Harrison County High School varsity cheerleaders have earned a trophy at the KAPOS State Championships.

The squad of 21 girls took fourth place overall last Saturday in Bowling Green in the Super Large Division with a total of 10 teams competing.

“I knew and the girls knew that this would be a close competition,” said HCHS coach DeDe Shirley on Tuesday afternoon. “It would come down to hitting all parts of our routine and looking clean to the judges.”

They controlled the tempo, they played solid man-to-man defense throughout, they hit clutch free throws, they did all the little things correctly and, as a result, the Harrison County Fillies now find themselves one win away from another 38th District basketball title.

On Monday night, Harrison County squandered a 10-point lead late in the third quarter, didn’t score their first points of the fourth quarter until 30 seconds were left in the game, and still held on for a hard-fought and well-earned, 34-30 victory over Pendleton County.

In post-season play, upsets usually occur when the underdog team gets off to a hot start and uses that momentum to sustain them for the rest of the game.

On Monday night, Pendleton County was that underdog team, but host Harrison County, the decided favorite, was the team that started quickly.

The Thorobreds, who defeated the Wildcats three weeks ago in Falmouth, 83-65, jumped to an early double digit lead and never trailed, beating Pendleton County, 69-52.