The Prairie City-Monroe girls basketball team threw itself back into the Heart of Iowa Conference race, while the boys stayed on top of it with a big sweep of North Polk on Senior Night Thursday in Monroe.
Leading off the night were the Mustang girls (14-6, 12-5), who handed the Comets their first conference loss of the season with a 47-44 victory. Despite trailing 27-19 at halftime, the Mustangs held North Polk to just 17 points in the second half and sealed the deal with a 17-point fourth quarter.
Senior Kelsey Townsend led PCM in scoring and rebounds with 15 and six, respectively. Junior Abbi Gilson joined Townsend in double figures with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, while sophomore Courtney Van Houweling finished with nine points, senior Krisha Houseman had eight and sophomore Grace Telfer had two.
Things were even closer on the boys side as the Mustangs (17-1, 14-1) batted with North Polk all the way into overtime. Senior Michael Neff had a monstrous game, scoring 29 points on 10-for-11 shooting and pulling down seven rebounds.
PCM led 40-27 at halftime, but North Polk rallied in the second half and dumped 19 points in the fourth quarter to force OT. There, the Mustang defense clamped down and held the Comets to just one point to earn the victory.
Freshman Logan Gilman contributed nine points for PCM, while seniors Ethan Kain and Alex DeWitte each had eight, senior Nate Vande Wall had seven and junior Dillon Bruxvoort had four. DeWitte also pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
Both Mustang squads will be back in action at Saydel tonight.
