One night after being shocked by Clarke, the Knoxville Girls basketball Squad allowed Albia next to nothing in a 61-31 victory while the Panthers boys were defeated by the Blue Demons 62-53 in games heard live on 95.3 KNIA. In the girls game, the Panthers completely shut down the Lady Dees allowing no field goals in the first half and shutting out Albia in the second quarter. Coach Jim Uitermarkt told KNIA/KRLS Sports after the bad night on Monday, the girls were motivated to wash away the memories and get back to winning.

Uitermarkt:
“We just decided after yesterday, make the girls get after it defensively. We’re not built for that but we just decided to make them guard full court man-to-man and get a sweat going, and we’re glad we made that decision.”

Maggie Wilkins scored 33 points as Knoxville caused 33 Albia turnovers. In the nightcap, Albia came out in the second half and controlled the final 16 minutes of play by limiting Knoxville on offense forcing 12 Panther turnovers and limiting leading scorer Kieren Nichols to just nine points. Interim Coach Matt Ritchhart told KNIA/KRLS Sports turnovers keyed Albia’s run though the second half.

Ritchhart:
“I think we had 17 turnovers, which is too many against a good team like Albia, and you can’t give them that many extra possessions. To their credit they’re smart players and well coached.”

Luke Keitges led Knoxville with 18 points. The girls are 12-4 and go to 9-2 in the South Central Conference, while the boys drop to 10-5 and also 8-2 in the conference. The girls will travel to Bondurant-Farrar on Thursday while the boys take on Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Friday.