By Reagan Hoverman

After beating Somerset and Baldwin-Woodville in the regional semi-final and regional final games, the Prescott girls basketball team suffered a 75-54 loss in the WIAA Division 3 sectional semi-final game against the Saint Croix Falls Saints on Thursday, March 3.

The highly anticipated game between Saint Croix Falls and Prescott wasn’t their first meeting of the season. The two powerhouse programs squared off in a matchup in Prescott on Thursday, Dec. 30. In that game, Prescott secured a 59-57 win in overtime. In that game, Prescott’s guards, juniors Isabel Matzek and Katrina Budworth, both scored over 20 points and outplayed the SCF backcourt.

In the second meeting in the sectional semi-final matchup, Saint Croix Falls’ guards got the best of Prescott, most notably SCF sophomore Lucy Belisle, who finished with a game-high 25 points. Belisle’s scoring ability was on display throughout the first half.

With nine minutes to go in the first half, Saint Croix Falls led 22-15. That’s when Belisle made a pull-up jumper from just inside the free throw line to extend the lead to 24-15. One possession later, Belisle again scored, this time a jumper from the elbow to take a 26-15 lead.

Belisle’s scoring ability is paired with her length, which she also took advantage of in the sectional semi-final game. With seven minutes to go in the half, she grabbed an offensive rebound and made a putback layup to give Saint Croix Falls a 30-15 lead. At halftime, Prescott trailed 44-30 at the half. Prescott head coach Joan Korfhage spoke about the deficit and what she said to her girls in the locker room.

“I told the girls, ‘This is not a 14-point deficit,’” Korfhage recalled of the locker room conversation. “(SCF) looked tired, I thought we had more energy, and we knew we had a way deeper bench. I told our girls to keep playing.”

Keep playing they did. In the second half, Prescott made a run – just as Korfhage expected – when Saint Croix Falls put in its bench players. With 12 minutes left in the second half, the Saints led 54-42. Then, junior Rhi Stutz made a layup to get the Prescott scoring run going.

Less than a minute later, sophomore center Lila Posthuma took hard contact on a layup, made the bucket, and got the foul call. She went to the line and converted the oldfashioned three-point play to cut the SCF lead to seven points, 54-47. After a Saint Croix Falls layup by sophomore Kelsey Cooper, Posthuma answered with a layup of her own.

After a stop on the defensive end, Prescott came down the floor and got the ball to junior forward Rylie Radloff, who made a three-pointer to cut the lead to four points at 56-52 with eight minutes to play. The Prescott student section exploded in a thunderous cheer as Saint Croix Falls head coach Angie Maternowsky got up from her chair and called a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, SCF went on an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to seal the game. Cooper, the aforementioned SCF sophomore center, was instrumental in the Saints’ run to put the game away. Her inside post presence, in addition to her several offensive rebounds, gave the SCF guards second-chance scoring opportunities that they took advantage of. “I was asking my bench about how Cooper was getting so many rebounds,” Korfhage said. “I couldn’t tell if she was elbowing us in or what.”

Whatever it was, it was working for Cooper and the Saints. Her final stat line included 21 points, 17 rebounds and five assists on 9-13 shooting from the floor. She controlled the paint throughout the game and helped carry SCF to a 19-point victory over Prescott.

Leading the charge in scoring for Prescott was Posthuma with 15, Matzek with 13, which included four threepointers, and senior Brynley Goehring with nine. Coach Korfhage reflected on the season just minutes after it ended.

“It was probably the best team that a first-year coach could have,” Korfhage said. “They’re an amazing group of girls, it’s an amazing group of seniors that we are going to miss deeply next year from a leadership standpoint.”

Korfhage spoke highly of both Goehring, who got a lot of playing time and was a starter, as well as Liz Rohl, who didn’t see the floor quite as much. For Korfhage, it was all about what Rohl did for the program off of the floor as a leader.

“Liz (Rohl) is the heart of this team,” Korfhage said. “She makes sure that everyone is ready. Maya (Quiroz) is right there too. She would probably play on most teams in our conference.”

Prescott’s season ends in the sectional semi-final round, a place that nobody thought Prescott would be after graduating four starters last season. Korfhage spoke about this season, expectations and overachieving.

“I think we did better than anybody thought we would,” Korfhage said. “Considering we lost four starters last year, including the GOAT (Isabella Lenz), we're losing some seniors (this year), but it’s not like that. Most of these girls are coming back.”

Prescott returns its best players next year, statistically speaking, in Posthuma, Budworth and Matzek. That core of players helped Prescott win another conference title and will likely be looking to retain the crown next season.

Hoverman

Prescott sophomore center Lila Posthuma sets a screen for senior point guard Brynley Goehring during the Cardinals’ sectional semi-final game against Saint Croix Falls on Thursday, March 3. Photo by Reagan Hoverman