Despite an extremely competitive beginning to the Highway 10 battle between Prescott and Ellsworth, back-to-back 3 pointers at the 4:00 mark of the first half for the Cardinals proved to be the catalyst as the visitors cruised to a 79 – 38 victory._ Lily Puhrmann and Autumn Earney helped Ellsworth stay close early on, combining for 16 of 21 first-half points. On the other end, Cards' Senior Nicole Dallman put up 13 in the opening half._ Dalman kept things up finishing with 25 to lead all scorers on the night,_while_Isabelle Lenz added 13. Earney and Molly Janke led the Panthers with 18 and 10, respectively._ 'We had to take some chances on defense against Prescott,' said Panthers' Coach Jason Janke. 'We gave them some things that were a little risky, but they're a real nice ballclub whose depth we can't quite match right now. Give their players credit, a couple of them we hoped might have an off-night, didn't. Couple that with our cold shooting and it's not a good recipe for success. We needed a few things to go our way, get a few extra loose balls, get a few shots to roll around and go in; tonight was not that night for our kids, but we'll get back up tomorrow and fight another day.'

'The only unfortunate thing I'd say about tonight is the casual viewer of basketball might not have appreciated the great effort on defense by Lily Puhrmann and Brianna Giese. Outstanding efforts by those two, and that will help us moving forward.'_ Panthers Fall One Surge Short at New Richmond

Despite digging themselves an early 9-point deficit while visiting the New Richmond Girls basketball team on Friday night, the Panthers dug in on defense and fought to a 24 -21halftime lead. Brianna Giese led a defensive effort that slowed the Tiger’s first half attack, while Autumn Earney and Hayley Bach warmed up on the offensive end, scoring 18 of 24 first half points.

“We did not come out strong on offense and it hurt us on the defensive end as well,” said Coach Jason Janke. “I thought our game plan was solid, but part of the plan was to exert some full-court defensive pressure which requires you to score in order to set things up. We were very impatient early and that allowed New Richmond to find some easy baskets early on.”

The Panther defense held New Richmond to 12 points over the last 14:00 of the first half, and things looked to be going the way of the visitors. The Tigers had other plans however, as they came out of the halftime locker room poised for a shooting display from 3-point range that would prove to be the difference. New Richmond had three players knock down 2 3-pointers apiece in the second half, which proved to be the catalyst for a 61-53 New Richmond victory._ Molly Janke joined Earney in the second half for some offensive surges that gave Ellsworth a fighting chance at victory until the closing seconds. The duo combined for all but two of the Panthers’ 29 points after the break._ “Our kids were in it till the very end,” said Coach Janke, “we missed a couple critical baskets that, at the time, would have put major stress on New Richmond. It’s the next step we have to make. We have to recognize important situations and when we get an easy basket opportunity, we have to take advantage of it. Tonight, we just missed on a couple and in a game this close, where we dug our own deficits a couple of times, you just cannot lose out on those chances.”

“We were very pleased with the girls’ ability and willingness to fight through adversity. If you watched the first three minutes of the game, shut it off, and then were told we led at halftime, I don’t think you’d have believed your eyes or ears,” joked Janke. “We found a way, but you have to give New Richmond credit, their girls really hit some big shots from 3 and took the game away from us. They are a very nice team.”

Earney led all scorers with 30 points on the night, while Janke & Bach followed with 12 and 9 respectively. New Richmond was led by Barb Kling’s 22, as she was among the 3point snipers from the hosts. Janke led the Panthers with 9 rebounds, but Bach & Lily Puhrmann were close behind with 8 apiece. The Panthers, accustomed to some 3-point success in this young season were plagued with some shooting woes on this night, hitting on only 3 of 17 attempts from beyond the arc._ Ellsworth will close the 2020 portion of their schedule by traveling to Chippewa Falls on December 22 to take on perennial Big Rivers power Cardinals.