Surveying the Prescott gym before practice, it's easy to see where the Cardinal girls' basketball program has been. In the last six years, they've been steamrolling with 114 wins, including four Middle Border Conference titles and two second place finishes.

There has been a carousel of head coaching changes since 2019, four to be exact. Ron Murphy finished second at the helm in 2019. Rob Radloff never lost a conference game in two years, taking home two titles in '20 and '21. Joan Korfhage finished first her only season as the varsity head coach in '22, after numerous years running the JV program. High turnover head coaching changes usually correlates to instability and losing records. Apparently, the Prescott High School girls’ basketball players didn't receive the memo.

"Success feeds success," said current third-year Prescott Head Coach Owen Hamilton, "These girls grew up watching really good basketball players. I guarantee you there's a third grader right now in Prescott that's trying to be Violet Otto. Success feeds the next generation."     

Walking down the Prescott High halls heading to the gym on New Year's Eve-day, there's a quiet calm during Christmas break. Aside from a laddered maintenance man with his upper torso tinkering above the ceiling tiles, the only sound is a humming furnace and flowing heat. It's the calm before the storm. It all changes when 5'11" junior guard Violet Otto yells to her teammates in the gym, "OK! Let's go!"

Twenty-three Cardinal girls' basketball players start dribbling balls. It sounds like an army marching to a beat, a Cardinal beat, and Otto is this year's DJ.

"Violet is the most determined player I've ever seen," said Hamilton, "It's determination to make her teammates better, determination to get in the gym, and the determination to prove herself. Everything she is as a person or as a player all comes back to her determination."

Hamilton would know. The 26-year-old stands tall in Cardinal basketball lore both on the banners and in person. The 7'0" former Prescott center's name is one of seven displayed on the Cardinals' 1,000-point career scoring banner on the boys' side. Five Cardinal girls' names are displayed on their 1,000-point scoring banners, including three in the last six seasons.

Isabella Lenz scored 1,811 and graduated in 2021. Lenz is currently a senior at Michigan Tech and dominating. Lila Posthuma tallied 1,226 points, graduating last year. Posthuma is playing significant minutes as a freshman at Division 1 Bradley University.

Otto will likely reach the 1,000-point plateau this year as a junior.

"It's definitely a team accomplishment," said Otto about her name being etched in the rafters. "It takes a team and we helped Lila (Posthuma) get there and I was proud of that."

The Cardinals' non-conference schedule has been tougher than a $2 steak this season. When a program like Prescott isn't used to losing, Otto sharing and injecting her determination can rub some players the wrong way, according to Hamilton. For other players, like fellow captain Rory Zuehlsdorf, Otto is the dose of medicine needed for success.

"Violet is the first person here and the last one to leave every single day," said Zuehlsdorf, "She's always scheduling extra practice time for us or open gym time for the whole team."

Extra practice time for Otto and her sophomore brother, Emmett, have been much easier, as their dad, Dan, built a half-court sized indoor heated pole-shed that serves as a make-shift gym.

"I'd say my parents are pretty good in the whole supportive thing," said Otto with a laugh. "We have a Dr. Dish (rebounding net and passing machine) and everything; it's really cool."

"She's always trying to get everyone on our team on the same level as her," said Zuehlsdorf. "She's tough to stop."

"Good luck trying to stop her," said Hamilton. "Nobody really has yet this season."

Otto's outside shot is smooth and quick; like watching a manufacturing machine fasten bolts to a product, there is no wasted motion and production is optimized. Otto is averaging just over 18 points per game as the Cardinals head into the bulk of their conference season.

"I ask her what we need to do offensively," said Zuehlsdorf. "Things like does she need more screens or does she need more cuts. That's how we're going to win."

Violet Otto will very likely have her name on a banner in the Prescott gym in due time, but for now, there is plenty of basketball season left.

"I'm glad she's not a senior," said Hamilton, "Because I'm not ready to see her go yet."

The rthid grade girl at Malone Elementary School in Prescott isn't either. The Dr. Dish in the Otto’s backyard pole shed has thousands of more balls to feed, too. As the saying goes in Prescott for girls’ basketball, success feeds success.