PRESCOTT — Looking to make improvements defensively, the Prescott girls basketball team is already taking strides in the right direction, holding Osceola seven points below its team average in a 57-41 win Friday.

Prescott came out of the gate firing, with the team’s first six shots being three-pointers. Junior Izzy Thoen hit a pair to get things started, joined by a make from sophomore Hannah Schommer and one from senior Violet Otto to lead 12-4.

“It adds a completely different element to what we’re doing. I think we’re a really good shooting team and I know we’ve kind of had our ups and downs this year, but it just helps when you can see a couple shots go through,” Head Coach Owen Hamilton said.

Just as Hamilton had hoped, the deep balls opened up the inside scoring, pushing Prescott to a 30-11 lead with about four minutes to play in the first half. He said some teams take an inside out approach where inside scoring frees up open shots, but hitting shots early can do the opposite and help bring easy buckets late in a tight game.

“I called her over and I said, ‘Now they’ve got to run you off the line. Now you get to kind of attack downhill,” Hamilton said after Otto nailed a three from the corner in the opening minutes.

Prescott has been working hard in practice defensively of late. They have the will to defend and put in the effort; it was all about cleaning up a few things to make the defense even tougher to beat. The Cardinals were not giving up easy baskets and it paid off when the shooting slowed down in the second half.

“It was a really good win. Osceola’s got some good talent. A lot of it’s young, but they showed up, they played pretty well,” Hamilton said. “Our big focus for the game last night was really locking in on defense and trying to hold a team under their average.”

Osceola freshman Emily Haase was the lone player the Cardinals allowed into double-digit scoring with 18 points. For Prescott, Otto had 26 and Thoen had 14.

At 7-5 overall and 3-2 in Middle Border Conference play, Prescott has a crucial pair of games coming up against the conference’s top two teams in Baldwin-Woodville and Saint Croix Central. Baldwin-Woodville is an untouched 6-0 in the conference, hosting Prescott on Jan. 15.

“They’re playing really well, and their focus is defense. They’ve won games in the 30s this year,” Hamilton said. “For us, it’s a matter of how we can really hone in on those great shots. Figuring out where our threes are going to be the best, figuring out where our shots are going to be the best and, in a low possession game, really emphasizing that valuing the ball is going to be huge.”

Central got the best of Prescott 63-58 in a great game overall. Hamilton said that game made the Cardinals even more hungry for a win in the Jan. 20 rematch.

“We let one slip against Central earlier this year, so we’re hungry to get back at them, prove ourselves and prove that we’re the best team in the conference,” Hamilton said.