The Prescott Cardinals were defeated by the Baldwin-Woodville Blackhawks on the road in Baldwin on Friday night by a score of 45-38.

It was a devastating loss for a team who’d played hard all season and will likely now miss out on winning their sixth consecutive Middle Border Conference Championship.

Baldwin took the first lead at 3-0, but Prescott immediately answered back with a 7-0 run. First Violet Otto got two, then Lila Posthuma put up five in a row. B-W pulled within one briefly, but Otto sank the first of her three deep shots from the right corner of the arc to put the Cardinal lead back at four with a score of 10-6.

A tipped ball by Leah French got the ball back for the red birds, and Otto quickly found the same corner and put it through. Another forced turnover by Prescott and another Otto three-pointer put the red birds up by an even dozen at 22-10 with 7:30 to go in the opening period.

A loud block and tough coverage by Posthuma kept the Blackhawks in check temporarily, but as the final minutes came off the clock, B-W was finishing up a 10-2 run that would take the Cardinals into the half with just a four-point lead at 24-20.  

The second half got off to a defensive start with B-W scoring the first points of the period after 3:30 of play. They pulled within one from the charity stripe, and then they stole it and took the lead at 26-25 with 11:30 to go. The Blackhawks’ tough defense got them the ball back, and they added on two more to stake a three-point lead.

Posthuma got all that back for the Cardinals, and at 10:00, it was all knotted up. Still, the momentum seemed to have shifted, and B-W picked up another steal.

Prescott kept playing hard, and a Posthuma rebound set them up to score, taking the lead back at 30-28. She followed this up with another block, this time under the net to keep points off the board, and at 7:44, the Blackhawks took a timeout to talk things over.

B-W came out and hit two scores in a row coming out of the break, but the Cardinals quickly tied it up again as the clock ticked down under 5:00. Things went back and forth over the next few minutes, but the Cardinals spent most of this time playing catchup as they were unable to retake a lead.

The end of this exchange came when the Blackhawks sent Posthuma to the line. She was automatic in the clutch, and Prescott tied it yet again with just 90 seconds to go at 36-all.

This was the last hurrah for the red birds though as B-W scored five straight to make it 41-36 with just 26 seconds remaining. The game would come to a close shortly thereafter with a final score of 45-38.

Head Coach Owen Hamilton says they are going to use this loss as an opportunity to improve.

“We could have won this game and maybe overlooked some things that didn't go right for us. We lose the game, and we're going to be overly critical of certain areas. So, we have to take a day, go back and look, but I think it's a good learning experience for us,” Hamilton said. “As much as it sucks, as much as I hate losing, as much as the girls hate losing, Baldwin is a really good team, and I think we're going to figure some stuff out to make us bounce back. Ultimately, that's the attitude everyone needs to have with it too.”

It was a heartbreaking loss for Prescott as their path to a sixth consecutive championship, though not impossible, just got a lot more difficult. Going into Friday’s game, Altoona, Baldwin and Prescott were in a three-way tie for first place with all three conference records at 9-2.

Things grew even more complicated when Altoona, who had won seven straight including a game against Prescott, lost to 6-6 Somerset. This means that Baldwin is now in the driver’s seat at 10-2 while Altoona and Prescott are both 9-3.

This doesn’t eliminate Prescott yet, because Altoona and Baldwin actually play each other in the last game of the season on Thursday, making for several possible scenarios for Prescott to finish in the winner’s circle.

Each eventuality that would allow for Prescott to come away with a conference championship hinges on them winning out in their final two games. The first game of this slate comes Tuesday versus the 7-5 Ellsworth Panthers at home and, from there, they go on the road to face the 0-12 Osceola Chieftains to finish out the season. These two wins would give Prescott an overall conference record of 11-3.

This would set up two possible winning scenarios for the Cardinals. The first would come to pass if Altoona wins out and beats Baldwin next Friday, resulting in a three-way tie for conference champion. This is the lessor of the options from a desirability standpoint, but it is the far more likely of the two.

The other possibility is that if somehow, miracle of miracles, 9-3 Altoona loses to 3-9 Amery, and then Baldwin loses to 4-8 St. Croix Central and also to Altoona. This would make Prescott the uncontested Middle Border champion for the sixth straight year. That said, Prescott still needs to do their part, making Hamilton’s point about staying present in the moment even more poignant.

If neither of these scenarios come to fruition, Prescott’s five-year dominance over the Middle Border Conference will come to a disappointing end, but every player will tell you that the real battle is yet to come. With the playoffs just around the corner, this talented Cardinals team still has a lot to play for.