Panther girls win first MBC game this season

• Ellsworth's Michaela DeGross and Prescott's Rachele Johnson

Michaela DeGross tries to knock the ball away from Rachele Johnson.

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Ellsworth High School’s girls basketball team won its first Middle Border Conference contest of the season 36-32 over Prescott Friday at home.

Ellsworth trailed in the first quarter 12-7 but kept the score close and low to stay with the Cardinals (9-9 overall, 6-5 in the MBC), trailing only 16-14 at halftime. They tied the score at 23-23 at the end of the third quarter and went in front 31-29 in the fourth on new team member Riley Harrison’s jumper with 2:04 to go in the game. Harrison has been a part of the team since the new semester began and is a transfer from Spring Valley.

The Panthers made their free-throws the last seconds of the ballgame for just its third win of the season against 14 losses.

“We’ve gone into every game we’ve played believing we can win because the league is so balanced,” Ellsworth head coach Dave Berg said. “Now, we match-up better with some team more than others and Prescott is one of them. That gave us a chance but it was up to us to turn it into a win and we did so with great defense and balanced scoring.”

The Panthers had at least seven players score a point. Tacia and Lydia Kuhl each had nine and teammate Halle Hatch scored eight points. Chelsey Strom finished with five points for EHS.

Mary Kate Pryor led Prescott with 10 points while team member Cassie Murphy scored eight points.

Ellsworth is at Lake City for a non-conference contest Tuesday and Prescott is at River Falls.

Tags: prep girls basketball, sports, prep, ellsworth, prescott