On Tuesday night, the Prescott Girls Varsity Basketball Team travelled to Ellsworth to play the Panthers. Prescott’s record coming into the game, was 4-1 overall and 3-0 in conference. Ellsworth had a record of 3-1 and were also 3-0 in conference. Both team’s lone loss came at the hands of the Hudson Raiders.

This week’s rankings saw Prescott move from number nine in division three to number six after they won impressively against St. Croix Central and Osceola. On this night, the ladies continued their march through the Middle Border Conference with another decisive win, this time over a co-leading conference Ellsworth team.

Sydney Matzek scored the first basket of the game just 12 seconds in to give the Cardinals the quick 2-0 lead. Ellsworth would score the next four points to take a 4-2 lead. Trailing 6-4, Matzek took a big charge in the lane negating a potential threepoint play for the Panthers. The Ellsworth zone defense slowed down Prescott early as Prescott settled for several three point attempts. Six minutes into the game, Ellsworth led 12-8. With 5:45 remaining in the first half and Prescott leading the game 18-16, coach Radloff called a timeout. The timeout seemed to change the game as Prescott would outscore Ellsworth 18-5 the rest of the half to take a 36-21 halftime lead. The Cardinals would then pour it on in the second half outscoring the Panthers 43-17 in the half to win easily 79-38.

The Cardinals flustered the Panthers into 18 turnovers with a stifling defense. For the third straight game, the Cardinals held the opposing team under 50 points total in the game. The defense continued to fuel the Prescott offense as they were able to get several easy looks at the basket. Nicole Dalman led the team with six steals on the night, Bell Lenz was second with four, and Tori Benck added three steals.

The passing was also excellent on the evening as the ladies had a season high 21 assists. Lenz led the way with 10 assists and Benck had five. The great passing and defense helped the Cardinals shoot 45% inside the arc and 40% overall. Lenz, Dalman, and Benck all shot 50% or better from the field.

Prescott also had a huge advantage on the glass, as they outrebounded Ellsworth 49-35 on the night. Doubledouble machine Nicole Dalman lead the way with 14 rebounds, Lenz had 11 boards, Brynley Goerhing and Lila Posthuma had six rebounds apiece.

Eight Cardinals would score in the game. Dalman led the team with 23 points, Lenz 13, Benck 12, Posthuma 10, Matzek 7, Erin Boatman 7, Goehring 4, and Rylie Radloff 4.

Cardinals squeak past Somerset The Cardinals travelled to Somerset to take on the Somerset Spartans Thursday night. Prescott ranked sixth in division three, came into the game with a 5-1 record overall and 4-0 record in conference play. Three of Prescott’s four conference wins were bow outs. The fourth was a close 66-59 win over Somerset. The Spartans on the other hand entered the game with a 1-3 record and a 1-2 conference record. Somerset’s three losses were by a combined 13 points.

Somerset got out to a hot start leading 5-0 just 1:10 into the game. Nicole Dalman received a nice bounce pass from Bella Lenz to score the first basketball of the game for Prescott. After a Lila Posthuma bank threepoint basket, Prescott finally had their first lead at 8-5 just over four minutes into the game. Prescott would slowly increase their lead to 13-5, by holding Somerset scoreless for almost six minutes. Ellsworth then got hot from deep, hitting three, threepoint baskets. After an old fashioned three point play, suddenly Somerset had tied the game at 19-19 with less than six minutes remaining first half. Sydney Matzek followed her missed shot and ripped the ball away from Somerset underneath the basket. She then put the layup in and gave Prescott a 26-21 lead. The Cardinals would go on to lead 32-26 at the half.

Prescott would score first in the second half as Posthuma made a beautiful pass to Lenz to give Prescott the 34-26 lead. The Cardinals struggled as the half went on and they looked tired, playing their second game in three nights. Coach Radloff switched to a 2-3 zone on the defensive end. Somerset again would get hot from three and would close the game to 41-38 with 11:22 remaining in the game. Both teams really clamped down on the defensive end. After a Lenz put back basket, Prescott lead just 46-41. Dalman then would score with 5:23 left to push the lead to 49-42. With no shot clock in high school, basketball, Prescott slowed down the tempo and ran a few minutes off of the clock over two possessions, unfortunately both ended in turnovers. The second turnover resulted in a Somerset layup tying the score at 49-49 with 1:23 remaining in the game. After a Prescott miss, Somerset had the ball with 40 seconds left. With 24 seconds left, a the Spartans drove to the basket, but lost the ball out of bounds, giving the ball back to Prescott. Both teams again would miss shots and a Somerset foul, 70 feet away from the basket, with 1.3 seconds left sent Lenz to the line. She calmly hit both free throws. Prescott escapes with a 51-49 win and improves to 6-1 on the season.

Somerset challenged Prescott on the boards all night, Prescott would end up with 34 rebounds on the evening. Dalman lead the way with 15 rebounds, Lenz added 9 more. Lenz also would lead the team in assists with five.

With the game being so close, coach Radloff would shorten the bench. Only six players would score for the Cardinals. Lenz had a team high 16 points, Dalman 11, Posthuma 10, Tori Benck 6, Brynley Goerhing 4, and Sydney Matzek 4.

Photo by Jack McLoone.