Friday night the Cardinals welcomed the Somerset Spartans for the conference opener for Prescott. Prescott entered the game with a 1-1 record on the season. The ladies defeated Cochrane Fountain City 71-51 before falling to Hudson 80-68. The Spartans came into the game with an 0-2 record on the season. Somerset had two remarkably close losses to Ellsworth 79-75 and to Altoona 61-59.

There is no tip off for high school basketball this year, so Somerset won the toss and started with the basketball. The Cardinals struggled early shooting the with a couple turnovers. They did not score until their fifth possession of the game when Nicole Dalman had a rebound and a basket. To tie the game at two each. The Cardinals would continue to struggle, and coach Radloff would call a timeout with Somerset leading 6-2.

The Cardinals would take a 9-6 lead with tough defense as Isabella Lenz and Lila Posthuma created steals. On the offensive end Dalman had six of the Cardinals first nine points. The Cardinals were dominating on the boards on the offensive end as Prescott seemingly had three or more shots each possession.

Prescott would call a timeout near the midpoint of the first half leading 16-14. Prescott had increased their lead to 16-9 and continued to dominate the glass on the offensive end, but Somerset would get a few buckets in transition and then feed the post. Somerset would continue their run as they scored 13 straight points to take a 21-16 lead.

Tori Benck came back into the game and completely changed the momentum. Benck would score seven points to give the Cardinals a 25-22 lead. The Cardinals then used a threequarter court trap to fluster the Spartans. Prescott would increase their lead to 38-29 at half. Dalman led the Cards with 12 points at halftime. Somerset held Lenz to just two points at half.

After halftime, the Cardinals continued to play solid defense, moved the ball well with good spacing, and added some timely shooting to take their largest lead of the game at 52-38. Postuma scored five points in the run leading Prescott. After a Lenz three-point play, the lead was extended 57-40. Somerset was struggling with Prescott’s 2-3 zone defense and the Spartan’s long-range shots were not falling.

The Cardinals then started to struggle again offensively. Somerset called a time out with 6:19 remaining in the game down 58-47. Lenz added two more free throws with a 1:30 remaining to give Prescott a 66-53 lead. The Spartans would hit a couple shots in the final minute, but the game was never in doubt as Prescott improves to 2-1 on the season with a 66-59 victory. Lenz and Dalman paced the Cardinals with 14 points each in the win.

Coach Radloff has exceedingly high expectations for the team. He said “We certainly did not play to our potential. We had a poor shooting night. As a team we need to play better.” For the rest of the season, coach Radloff’s expectations are simply “To continue to improve and play our best every game.” Prescott will look to do just that as they travel to Osceola Monday night to take on the Cheiftains.