The Prescott Cardinal girls' basketball team had not played for two weeks before their non-conference game against Regis at Eau Claire's Memorial High School holiday tournament on Friday Dec. 27.

The Ramblers played the role of “Grinch” for Prescott fans.

Regis, ranked ninth in Division 4 in the most recent Wisconsin Coaches' Poll, filled the Cardinal Christmas stockings with a full court press and ball pressure for most of the game. Prescott came in averaging 9.8 turnovers per game in their first seven games. Friday afternoon, Regis, led by one of the top sophomore point guards in the state in 5'6" spark plug EllaMay Cooper, forced the Cardinals into 19 turnovers. Regis improved to 9-2 on the year and came away with the 66-40 win. Prescott fell to 3-5.

"We're not 26 points worse," said third-year Prescott Head Coach Owen Hamilton. "We have to figure out how to stop shooting ourselves in the foot."

"I think we need to slow down as a team to make our press break better," said Prescott junior guard Violet Otto. "Instead of them speeding us up, we have to work on our game and our pace."

Otto, averaging 20 points per game on the season, was right on her average. Otto scored nine of Prescott's 17 points in the first half. The Cardinals trailed 33-17 at the break. Otto scored 11 of the Cardinals' 23 points in the second half. She finished with a team-high 20 points on 6 for 15 shooting, including 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. Otto also led the Cardinals on the glass with six rebounds.

The real “Grinch” for Prescott was Regis' sophomore point guard EllaMay Cooper. Cooper finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-16 shooting, including 5-5 from the free throw line and 2-2 from three-point land. “The Grinch” also had a game-high six steals. 

"She's (Cooper) better in person than she is on film," said Hamilton. "And she's pretty good on film. Cooper is a special player, probably the best player we'll see this season."

Cooper is listed at 5'6" in the game program and being heavily recruited by the University of Northern Iowa. She has an explosive first step and was consistently handling the ball like it was attached to her finger tips on a yo-yo with behind-the-back and between-the-legs dribbling the entire game. Cooper ran around stopping and starting like she was racing around a track on a set of Cooper tires.

Prescott senior forward Rory Zuehlsdorf is averaging a team-leading 8.4 rebounds per game. Zuehlsdorf was held to just three rebounds on Friday. Regis won the rebounding battle, 34-29. 

"Rory does everything right on defense and that's why she gets as many rebounds as she does," said Hamilton. "You're going to see Rory bust out and she's going to be scary good."

"We gave our best effort," said Zuehlsdorf. "But we just need to work on some things as a team."

Prescott junior Hannah Schommer finished with eight points on 3 of 8 shooting. Senior Leah French chipped in with six points on 2-2 shooting from three. Junior Nora Boles added five rebounds.

Regis finished with 20 assists in the game. Prescott had just seven, which can be a microcosm of a lack of passing and a lack of moving without the ball.    

"We're not playing our best basketball yet but we're going to be playing our best basketball soon," said Hamilton. "We're going to be the team nobody wants to see."

Prescott hosts River Falls on Monday, Jan. 6. Tip-off is at 7:15 p.m.