On Friday night the 9th ranked Cardinals traveled to Saint Croix Central to take on the Panthers. Prescott entered the game with a 3-1 overall record and a conference record of 2-0. They were coming off an impressive 81-41 win over Osceola where their defense dominated the Cheiftains.

The Cardinals would get off to a much better start against the Panthers. Just 10 seconds into the game, Nicole Dalman drove in for the layup to give Prescott the lead. Sydney Matzek and Lily Posthuma would also score early. The Cardinals would take control of the game early with an 8-2 lead just three minutes into the game.

The Cardinals used a suffocating half court trap to confuse the Panthers. Bella Lenz would guard the ball handler and steer her to one side of the court where either Sydney Matzek or Brynley Goerhing were waiting to join her. When the Panthers were not turning the ball over in Prescott’s trap, they face an aggressive Prescott half-court defense with highly active hands. Dalman would score eight early points and Prescott lead 20-9 halfway through the first half.

The Cardinals again were impressive running the court and were able to convert several layups. Tori Benck and Sydney Matzek were often able to get behind the Panthers defense for layups or were drawing fouls. In Prescott’s half court set they worked the ball inside using a motion offense cutting to the basket. Dalman led a balanced attack

Photos by Jack McLoone. with 10 points at the half, Prescott would lead 46-22 at the break.

The second half started out just as the first half ended with the Cardinals pushing the up the court for easy looks at the basket. The Panthers struggling to break any traps and it often was Lenz creating a turnover and feeding either Benck, Matzek, or Posthuma on the break. After four straight points by Posthuma, the Cardinals led 58-26 with 14 minutes remaining.

Prescott made some substitutions with the lead bringing Isabel Matzek back in the game with Rylie Radloff. After Radloff made a nice jump shot, the score was 64-26. The Prescott bench outplayed the Panthers as well, by the nine-minute mark the lead was up to 72-28. At the nine-minute mark, the mercy rule starts and there is a running clock for the rest of the game. The Cardinals would defeat the Panthers 81-32.

Lenz led the team with 17 points, Dalman had 14, Benck chipped in with 11 points, freshman Posthuma added 10, and Isabel Matzek was the top scorer off the bench with 9 points.

The Cardinals travelled to Osceola last Monday night to square off against the hometown Cheiftains in a Middle Border Conference showdown. The Cardinals entered the game with a 2-1 overall record and a 1-0 conference record.

The Cardinals got off to a slow start. The shots were not falling, much like the last game against Somerset. At the 15minute mark of the first half, all Prescott had managed was a Posthuma free throw and Osceola led the game 2-1.

The ladies finally got a few shots to fall and leading 7-6 Coach Rob Radloff implemented a full court press and mixed in some half court traps as well. The defense led to several Cheiftain turnovers and fast break opportunities. When Dalman completed a three-point play with a nice running lay up and a free throw, Prescott led 12-6 with 11:18 left in the half.

When Prescott was not scoring off turnovers, they were pounding the offensive glass getting several looks at the basket. Osceola had no answer to the Cardinal onslaught. Over a six minute stretch the Cardinals scored 23 straight points and with 5:55 remaining until halftime the score was 30-6.

During Prescott’s run Lenz took over for the Cardinals. Lenz scored just about every way one can score. She scored a couple fast break layups after turnovers, a pull up three-point shot, a mid-range jumper, and a three-point shot that was kicked back out to her. Lenz scored 13 of Prescott’s 23 points in the run. The Cardinals would continue to pour it on lead by a score of 49-12 at the break. Coach Radloff commenting on the big halftime lead, “When we get ahead like we did it allows us to work on other things. Also allows us to get floor time for our girls that work hard in practice but don’t see the floor as much.”

Starting the second, Prescott abandoned the full court press and only occasionally worked in the half court trap. With such a large lead, the game was decided and there was no reason to continue using it. The Cardinals did continue to push the ball down the court. Sydney Matzek and Dalman scored on consecutive possessions by beating their opponent down the floor.

With the score 66-31 and 9:31 remaining in the second half, Lenz took control of the game one more time. Lenz would score the next 10 points of the game again showing her entire offensive arsenal. Bella drove to the basket, hit a jump shot, grabbed a rebound for a put back, and hit free throws as the Cheiftains could not slow her down. Lenz would lead the way for the Cardinals scoring 36 points on the night. Coach Radloff spoke of Lenz, “She is going to Michigan Tech. She is a talented young lady and teams are keying on her for a reason. She is not only a scorer but an allaround player. Hustles, rebounds, get steals, assists, and great leader.”

With 5:08 remaining in the game, and Prescott leading 78-36, coach Radloff emptied the bench. Prescott would cruise to the 81-41 victory.