Two wins for Prescott, two losses for Ellsworth last week

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Both Ellsworth and Prescott lost ballgames last week.

The difference between the two Pierce County programs was the Cardinals offset their first loss of the season to Amery with back-to-back non-conference wins over St. Paul Como Park and Trinity High School of Eagan, Minn. while the Panthers have to deal with a two-game losing streak

Eager for more

Prescott wants another crack at Amery.

They’ll certainly get one. It’s on the schedule for Feb. 3.

But more important than the schedule is the sense the Cardinals have they can compete with the league favorites, as they did losing 49-42 at Amery last Tuesday.

The Cardinals fell behind early on 17-8 and 23-18 at halftime. But they found themselves tied with the undefeated Warriors, 5-0 overall, with three minutes to go in the ballgame and only down three points with a minute left. Amery sank 9-of-13 free throws to get the win. Taylor Luke was especially accurate, making 5-of-6 in the fourth quarter.

“Despite a slow start we still played good basketball game against a good team,” PHS head coach Matt Smith said. “We were right there at end of the game with chances to win. That’s why we’re looking forward to a rematch.”

Luke finished with 18 points and teammate Heather Byl finished with 11. Prescott’s Kaycee Charette led all scorers with 20 points while Brittany Jilk had 10 points and Chloe Carlson finished with eight points. However, PHS had only four players score points compared to six for Amery.

Bouncing back, Minnesota style

Prescott bounced back later last week at the State of Minnesota’s expense

The Cardinals defeated two teams from the Gopher State, making it four such wins on the season.

PHS downed Como Park at home Thursday 64-40. The Cardinals led 16-5 after one quarter and were ahead the rest of the way. Alyssa Krings led the home team in scoring with 19 points while Charette finished with 13 and

Kylie Lytle had a season-high 14 points. S. Harris had 12 points for the Cougars, 0-5 overall.

The next night Prescott battered Trinity 72-30 in Eagan. Jilk was PHS’ leading scorer with 18 points while Charette finished with 17 points and Lytle and Megan Murphy each had nine points and Carlson wound up with eight points. Krings scored seven points. Trinity dropped to 0-3 overall.

Downer week

Last week was a downer for Ellsworth after the Panthers had gotten off to a good start.

Ellsworth could not keep up with Durand last Tuesday in Durand. EHS fell behind 37-24 at halftime and trailed 53-36 heading into the final quarter. What made the final score of 73-38 so lopsided was a 20-2 bashing in the fourth quarter by the host Panthers.

Ellsworth made six three pointers in the ballgame led by three from Shannon Campbell and two from Courtney Stoesz. Taylor Murphy was the Panthers’ leading scorer with 16 points while Campbell had nine points.

But Durand, 3-0 overall, made nine trifectas, more than half coming from the hands of Sami Schroeder. She finished with a game-high 23 points followed up by 15 points from Sam Hoyt and 12 points from Rachel Olson.

Ellsworth didn’t have a lot of time to contemplate the shattering loss to Durand for Red Wing came up on Thursday in Red Wing. The Panthers competed well against the 4-1 Wingers for much the first half, leading 22-20. However, a spate of turnovers fueled an 18-5 run that gave RW the halftime lead 40-25 and eventual 74-57 win.

Turnovers were a big factor against EHS last week. Against Red Wing alone Ellsworth committed 35 turnovers.

Campbell had 19 points to lead her team and Murphy finished with 16 points. Red Wing had five players in double figures led by Tesha Buck’s 14 points.

Tags: sports, girls, basketball