For the second time in as many years, the Saint Croix Falls Saints have knocked Prescott’s girls’ basketball team out of the playoffs.

Long after a majority of the crowd had left Prescott’s gym following the Cardinals’ 56-48 defeat against Saint Croix Falls in the Division 3 regional championship game, first-year head coach Owen Hamilton emerged from the locker room and fought back tears while he spoke about how painful it is to see the seniors have their season end that way.

“You’ve got a group like those seniors that deserve everything, they deserve the world, man,” Hamilton said. “To have it end like that and not really get the awards and plaques, to not get so much that they deserve, it hurts. It just hurts that we couldn’t get it done for them and it’s going to hurt for a long time.”

After Prescott throttled Bloomer 72-44 in the regional semifinal on Friday, Feb. 24, the Cardinals advanced to a home regional championship game the following night. The Cardinals knew they would face Saint Croix Falls, a team that has become Prescott’s biggest non-conference rival.

Their strife dates back to last year’s sectional semifinal game in Baldwin when Saint Croix Falls defeated Prescott en route to their first state tournament appearance in program history. Additionally, the Saints knocked off Prescott earlier this year with a buzzer-beating layup in a non-conference matchup that further stoked the fire of their rivalry.

Saturday night’s regional championship game left nothing to be desired in terms of pure basketball competition. Both teams played tough, physical defense and regularly dove to the floor while chasing loose balls in the hopes of creating an extra possession for their team.

Prescott and Saint Croix Falls traded buckets throughout the first half and ultimately played to a 27-27 draw going into the break. Senior guard Izzy Matzek led the Cardinals at the half with 12 points – all via three-pointers – while SCF senior guard Brianna McCurdy paced the Saints with a dozen of her own.

While Matzek and McCurdy led their respective squads offensively, the first 18 minutes was a hard-fought, grind-it-out defensive game with incredibly limited scoring runs. Coach Hamilton spoke about both programs putting their defensive prowess on full display.

“We both put some much emphasis on defense, so you just kind of think of it like a chess game,” Hamilton said. “We know where they struggle and they know where we struggle, and we both took advantage of it. I’ll tip my cap to their coaching staff because they’re amazing. It was a real chess match tonight that just didn’t go the way we wanted.”

Prescott navigated its chess match with Saint Croix Falls no better than the first four minutes of the second half. The Cardinals came out of the break hot offensively, as Prescott scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half while building a six-point advantage, 35-29, its largest of the game.

All of the Cardinals’ big hitters were involved in the run. Senior guard Katrina Budworth made a pair of layups, junior forward Lila Posthuma used a crafty post move to create space and finish, and freshman Violet Otto snagged an offensive rebound and quickly made the putback bucket.

Saint Croix Falls head coach Angie Maternowsky swiftly called a timeout to slow Prescott’s momentum. The Saints responded with a 6-0 run and tied the game 35-35 with under 11 minutes to play. McCurdy tallied two of the six while junior forward Kelsey Cooper had the other four.

The game hung in the balance as both teams played to a 39-39 tie with eight minutes left in regulation. That’s when the Saints stepped on the gas, as McCurdy made a pair of free throws while Cooper used her size to create space for a layup and then stepped out and buried a three-pointer from the wing that gave the Saints a 46-39 lead with five minutes to play.

Saint Croix Falls’ lead ultimately proved to be too much to overcome, as the Saints claimed the regional championship with a 56-48 victory. McCurdy led all scorers with 21 while Cooper had 15 and junior Lucy Belisle tallied 11.

“I thought we played well on Brianna (McCurdy), but she’s one of the better players that I’ve seen,” Hamilton said. “You can’t completely stop a great player like that. When she sees a couple go, the rest start to funnel in and then you have to put so much focus on her that other girls can get going.”

As soon as Prescott committed additional attention to McCurdy defensively, Belisle got her jumper going and Cooper became dominant inside the paint, and the Cardinals didn’t have an answer. Hamilton spoke about SCF’s three-headed monster in McCurdy, Belisle and Cooper.

“I like Lucy’s game and obviously Cooper has been a Cardinal killer since I’ve known her, and props to her. She’s a great player,” Hamilton said. “When they get those pieces going, stopping a three-headed monster come playoffs is tough, but that’s what you’ve got to do.”

The aforementioned Matzek led Prescott with 15 points, while Posthuma had 13 and Budworth tallied 11. Prescott finished the 2022-23 season 17-9 overall and 11-3 in league play, which earned the Cardinals their fourth consecutive Middle Border Conference championship.

Coach Hamilton took a few moments and reflected on his first season as head coach and what the girls on this specific iteration of the team currently mean to him and will mean to future Lady Cardinals.

“When I look back on this and tell my future kids about this team, I'll tell them if you want to learn how to play basketball, you watch the 2022-23 Prescott girls,” Hamilton said. “That’s how you should play basketball, even when it doesn’t go well. They have nothing to hang their heads about.”