On a night when Ellsworth junior Molly Janke scored 28 points, head coach Jason Janke would have thought his team had a pretty good shot at winning.

Instead, the Prescott Cardinals strung together a wire-to-wire victory, as the dynamic duo of junior forward Lila Posthuma and senior guard Katrina Budworth combined for 42 points en route to a 62-53 victory at home on Friday, Jan. 13.

With the win, Prescott improved to 9-1 overall and a league-best 6-0 in Middle Border Conference play. Ellsworth slipped to 8-5 overall and 2-3 in MBC action with the loss.

When it came down to it, Prescott simply had too much firepower for Ellsworth to handle. When Ellsworth committed defensively to slowing Posthuma down, she passed to open teammates on the perimeter who hit jump-ers regularly. Panthers’ defense by hit When Ellsworth didn’t ting three-pointers and send extra help to Posthuma, she punished the See PRESCOTT GBB, Page B-10 slashing into the lane for layups. Coach Jason Janke spoke about competing against a Prescott team that has some serious offensive firepower.

“You’ve got to take your hat off to their ability to have that balance, and some other kids hit some threes and free throws too,” Jason Janke said. “To get that game to go our way, we’ve got to have another kid have a big night. If you told me Molly (Janke) had a night like that (28 points), I would say we might have pulled that game off.”

Ellsworth and Prescott played to an 8-8 tie six minutes into the first half. That’s when Prescott put together a quick 7-0 run that featured two Posthuma layups and a Budworth three-pointer from the top of the key that forced an Ellsworth timeout as the Cardinals grabbed a 15-7 lead.

Prescott’s success continued throughout the first half as the Cardinals took a 30-20 lead into the intermission. The second half featured superb scoring from all the big-name players, including Posthuma, Budworth and Janke.

Posthuma got the scoring started with a driving layup less than a minute into the second half. Janke responded on the ensuing possession with a three-point play the old-fashioned way. A couple of possessions later, Budworth made a layup and then Posthuma buried a deep three-pointer from the top of the key to give Prescott a 37-24 advantage.

Ellsworth refused to go down without a fight. The Panthers made a couple of small runs throughout the second half and had the lead cut to six points, 53-47, with four minutes left in regulation.

However, Prescott’s duo of Posthuma and Budworth always seemed to have a response. The Cardinals outscored the Panthers 9-6 in the closing four minutes to secure the 62-53 victory.

Notable scoring for both teams included Molly Janke, whose 28 points led all scorers on Friday night. Ellsworth’s second-leading scorer was junior forward Kayla Kressin, who finished with seven points.

Prescott’s Posthuma posted a team-high 23 points, Budworth tallied 19 and freshman guard Violet Otto finished with eight. Prescott head coach Owen Hamilton spoke about Posthuma’s dominant performance on Friday night.

“Lila is great and that was the game we needed out of her,” Hamilton said after the win. “She wanted to make it her game, and she did a good job of that. She made others better too with the way she passed it. Everything changes when she starts knocking down a couple of jumpers.”

For as great as Posthuma and Budworth were on Friday night, Hamilton believes that his team didn’t execute the offense as well as they could have, which led to Ellsworth lingering around for longer than Prescott would have liked.

“I don’t think we played up to our standard as much as I would have liked,” Hamilton said. “Ellsworth came and played a great game and did what I expected. We set up our offense knowing they would play zone and we were supposed to work in the middle, but nobody did it. It wasn’t up to our standard on offense.”

Prescott and Ellsworth are slated for a rematch in the penultimate game of the regular season on Tuesday, Feb. 14. Ellsworth head coach Jason Janke spoke about what would have to go differently in that game for his team to earn a win and defend their home court.

“In the case of Prescott, they have to have an off -night shooting from three, because they’re an exceptional shooting team,” Janke said. “Then we’ve got to balance that by having a pretty good night. That’s probably the biggest thing in a game like this.”

Ellsworth was back in action on the road against New Richmond on Monday, Jan. 16. Prescott had a brutal test on the road against the 12-2 Hudson Raiders on Tuesday, Jan. 17. For coach Hamilton, the game against Hudson will be a great test for his Cardinals.

“I think we’re ready to go for that one. I think the girls are ready for the challenge of a big school on the road,” Hamilton said. “It’s going to be a great test because they’re really good and well-coached. We’re going to get a chance to see what we’ve got. I think we’ve got a good shot at it.”

Prescott’s road matchup with the Hudson Raiders on Tuesday night was slated to begin at 7:15 p.m. at Hudson High School.

Ellsworth junior guard Maria Harrington looks for an open teammate during the Panthers’ road game against Prescott on Friday night. Photo by Reagan Hoverman

Prescott senior Rylie Radloff spots up for an open three-point attempt during the rivalry game against Ellsworth on Friday night. Photo by Reagan Hoverman