The last seven days have been an emotional rollercoaster for the Prescott girls’ basketball team.

After cracking the weekly Wissports.com coaches’ poll as the No. 10-ranked team in Division 3, the Prescott Cardinals secured a 69-54 win against the then 13-3 Somerset Spartans on Tuesday, Jan. 24. It appeared as if Prescott was destined to leap other teams in the poll and potentially crack the top five.

Instead, adversity struck. Prescott dropped two of its next three games, which included a buzzer-beating loss against the rival Saint Croix Falls Saints and then suffering a loss to the Northwestern Tigers 48 hours later. The lone victory of the three-game stretch was a 53-42 win over Saint Croix Central on Friday, Jan. 27.

“As far as I’m concerned nothing has changed in our minds,” Prescott head coach Owen Hamilton said. “The girls and our coaches still believe we can beat anyone. Not many teams have that kind of mentality and I think it’s a special kind of mentality to have at this point of the season as well.”

After huge victories, sports teams regardless of level often come out flat in the following contest. That proved to be true for Prescott. After the 69-54 drubbing of the Somerset Spartans, which is unquestionably the Cardinals’ biggest win of the season thus far, Prescott came out flat and lethargic on the road against Saint Croix Falls on Thursday, Jan. 26.

Prescott fell behind 18-4 and had more turnovers than made field goals through the first 12 minutes of the opening half. The Cardinals couldn’t make a jumper, turned it over regularly and struggled to slow the Saints down. Coach Hamilton spoke about the first half.

“We limited ourselves offensively so much in those 12 minutes,” Hamilton said. “Between the turnovers and shots that just didn’t go for us, it was hard to get in a rhythm like we normally would. We were definitely disappointed on Thursday. It felt like we just weren’t as ready to go in the first half as we needed to be.”

Despite trailing by more than a dozen points, Prescott battled its way back into the game. Perhaps no Prescott player had a larger impact on the game than senior guard Katrina Budworth. After trailing 18-4, Prescott went on a 17-4 run to cut the Saints’ lead to one point, 22-21, with under two minutes to play in the first half.

The Saints finished those final two minutes on a small 5-0 run to take a 27-21 lead into the halftime locker room. The Cardinals continued to battle and even took a 36-35 lead with under six minutes to play in the second half when senior forward Maddie Rundquist hit a mid-range jumper.

However, with under 20 seconds left in regulation, Prescott had possession with the game tied and a chance to steal the win, given how the Cardinals played in the first half. That’s when Budworth went slashing into the lane with approximately 10 seconds to play and missed a tough contested layup.

Saint Croix Falls quickly grabbed the rebound and threw an outlet pass up the floor to junior forward Kelsey Cooper, who hit the game-winning layup at the buzzer. Coach Hamilton spoke about Prescott’s 47-45 loss that came on the final play of regulation.

“It is a credit to the girls for how hard they fought, but that seemed to be a pretty bittersweet point in the locker room,” Hamilton said. “It felt like we should’ve had it even with how poorly we played, which is just another bittersweet feeling to have after that game too.”

Budworth was the driving force in Prescott’s late second-half comeback bid. She finished with 19 points, three rebounds and three assists on Thursday night. She also guarded SCF senior guard Brianna McCurdy the whole game and held her to just five points. McCurdy is averaging 17 points per game this season. Hamilton reflected on Budworth’s performance.

“I can’t say enough great things about Katrina, but in that game, it was one that I could look back on and be even happier with her performance after seeing the stats,” Hamilton said. “Her defensive effort and focus are things that don’t pop up in a box score. Holding one of the best players in the Heart O’North Conference to five points is unbelievable.”

Prescott had a couple out of the ordinary performances from some key players. Junior forward Lila Posthuma, who averages 15 per game, scored just two points on 1-8 shooting from the floor. Freshman guard Violet Otto, who has been outstanding this season, also struggled. Otto scored two points on 1-9 shooting from the field.

Nothing was more unusual than Prescott’s free throw shooting on Thursday night. The Cardinals went just 6-27 from the charity stripe throughout the loss on the road against Saint Croix Falls.

The Cardinals bounced back with a 53-42 win against Saint Croix Central at home the following night. Prescott was back in action the following afternoon against Northwestern for their third game in as many days at the Northwest Girls Basketball Challenge, hosted in Somerset.

The brutal scheduling of a back-to-backto- back certainly took a toll on Prescott, as the Cardinals suffered a 58-48 loss. Coach Hamilton spoke about the final contest of the three-game stretch.

“We definitely had some dead legs going into the game, but that isn’t any excuse,” Hamilton said. “We played a little sloppier than we normally do with our passes and attention to detail things we talked about. It was a great learning experience for us again and a new type of team for us to guard as well.”

Despite a couple of tough non-conference losses, Prescott remains a healthy 12-4 overall and 9-0 in Middle Border Conference action. The Cardinals are slated to be back in action at home against Altoona on Thursday, Feb. 2. That game is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

Senior guard Izzy Matzek of the Prescott girls’ basketball team buries a corner three during the Cardinals’ win over the 13-3 Somerset Spartans on Tuesday, Jan. 24. Photo by Reagan Hoverman