By Reagan Hoverman

On Thursday, Feb. 17, the Prescott girls basketball team defeated Ellsworth 61-43 in their final regular season game of the year to secure the Middle Border Conference championship, Prescott’s third in as many years.

Both Ellsworth and Prescott had high stakes going into the Thursday night Highway 10 rivalry game. For Prescott, it was a chance to secure the Middle Border Conference title outright. For Ellsworth, it was a chance to spoil Prescott’s bid for the outright conference crown. An Ellsworth win would have forced Prescott to share the conference title with the Railroaders of Altoona.

The Cardinals entered the game with an 11-2 record in Middle Border action, just one game clear of Altoona in the standings. While some coaches will say that every game is the same and none matter more, Prescott head coach Joan Korfhage quickly acknowledged that Thursday night’s game meant more than most.

“We knew that it could be a shared conference, but we really wanted the title to ourselves,” Korfhage said. “Yeah (it’s something we talked about). Altoona is a strong team, so we’ve been counting down the last six games and focusing on one game at a time.”

Prescott was keenly aware of the stakes heading into the rivalry game in the season finale and they played like it. The Cardinals led 4-3 three minutes into the game. Throughout the next two minutes, Prescott outscored Ellsworth 9-0 to take a 14-3 lead, which forced a timeout by Ellsworth head coach Jason Janke.

The Cardinals’ scoring run included two mid-range jumpers from junior guard Rhi Stutz, two free throws from sophomore forward Lila Posthuma and a corner threepointer by junior guard Izzy Matzek, who is statistically one of the best three-point shooters in Wisconsin this year.

Janke’s timeout did little to slow the Prescott offense. In the three minutes after his timeout, Prescott outscored Ellsworth 8-1 to take a 22-4 lead with 10 minutes to play in the half, which forced another Janke timeout. Korfhage spoke about Prescott’s offense which seems to be at the peak of its powers heading into the playoffs.

“They do an amazing job,” Korfhage said. “We have a lot of shooters, we move the ball well, we’re a tough team to defend.”

Prescott’s red-hot offense took a 33-18 lead into the halftime intermission. In addition to shots falling for the Cardinals, inside post players such as the aforementioned Posthuma and junior forward Maddie Rundquist rebounded well offensively and gave the shooters multiple secondchance opportunities. Ellsworth coach Janke spoke about playing against Prescott’s length.

“They’re a little longer than

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we are, a few kids that are longer than us, Posthuma obviously,” Janke said. “She’s six-foot and probably plays about 6’6”. They’ve got three kids that are about six feet. It’s hard to get decent shots inside and if you’re not knocking down threes, you tend to force some of them.”

Prescott’s length was critical in developing an early lead and maintaining it throughout the second half. The Cardinals’ 15-point halftime lead ended up as an 18-point home victory to secure the conference title. Coach Korfhage spoke about winning the conference and where the team is at as they head into the playoffs.

“It feels awesome (to win the conference),” Korfhage said. “We’ve been working on the defensive side of things. If you look at our rebounding, I think that’s one of our biggest improvements.”

It was a complete team performance for Prescott during the Highway 10 rivalry game. Posthuma finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Stutz had 13 points, six rebounds and two assists. Junior Katrina Budworth rounded out the leading scorers with 12 points, six rebounds, an assist and a steal.

While nearly everything went right for Prescott, just as much went wrong for Ellsworth during the Thursday night contest. After the game, Janke spoke about his team’s performance.

“I think the biggest thing is that they shot the ball well and we really didn’t,” Janke said. “We were in a bit of a shooting funk on Tuesday and it continued tonight. Credit goes to their defense and some of that criticism maybe needs to go to our defense.”

Janke spoke extensively about Ellsworth’s offensive struggles. The continued shooting funk has led to frustration among players and has bogged down the offense as of late. He spoke about where the offense is at right now with a regional date already set for the first round of the playoffs.

“I think we’re getting bogged down (offensively) due to some frustration with shooting,” Janke said. “To their credit, everybody is trying to fix it and we’re trying to make a really good play instead of moving it around. You can’t really fault them, because they’re busting tail to figure it out and you’ve got to like that.”

The Prescott-Ellsworth matchup was the final game of the regular season for both teams. Prescott enters the playoffs as the #3 seed for their respective bracket and will play the winner of Saint Croix Central and Somerset on Friday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. Location is still to be determined, according to the official WIAA bracket.

As for Ellsworth, the Panthers enter the playoffs as the #5 seed and will host the #12 seed Spooner Rails on Tuesday, Feb. 22. That game is set to begin at 7 p.m.

Prescott junior guard Rhi Stutz moves the ball up the floor, looking to set up the Cardinals offense. Stutz finished the game with 13 points, six rebounds and two assists in the 61-43 win to secure the conference title.Photo by Reagan Hoverman