March 29, 2024

PCM girls rally past Knoxville in opener

KNOXVILLE — Both girls’ basketball teams at Prairie City-Monroe and Knoxville lost significant players from last year’s successful squads that wound up in the top two positions of their respective conferences.

So as the new season began both programs were ready to see how some new faces looked in different roles, and the Mustangs came out on top, rallying from an early deficit to win 35-30 on Saturday night.

Knoxville (0-1) led 10-4 after one quarter and held a one-point advantage at halftime, but PCM (1-0) scored 25 points in the second half to win its season opener.

The Mustangs won the third quarter 10-6 and then finished off the Panthers with a 14-12 surplus in the final frame.

“We definitely improved from our jamboree, but we also grew a little bit,” first-year PCM coach Jeff Lindsay said. “As our defense ramped up, so did our offense. We transitioned a lot of steals into easy buckets at the other end.”

PCM’s defense triggered its offense in the second half. Kayla Jennings finished five steals, while Katie Vande Wall and Jayci Vos both had four steals and Emily Hugen added three steals in the win.

Vande Wall led the Mustangs’ balanced attack with eight points.

Vos and Jennings each scored six, while Hugen had five and Karina Van Dyke and Bailey Brodersen each scored four.

Van Dyke and Brodersen had a team-high six rebounds, while Vande Wall chipped in five boards. Jennings dished out a team-high three assists.

“Down the stretch, we were able to play well with a lead and hit our free throws in the fourth quarter,” Lindsay said. “We took good shots, too. We ran our offense until we had a good look at the basket.”

PCM turned it over 12 times.

It made 7-of-12 from the line and 4-of-6 in the fourth quarter.

The Mustangs look for their second win of the year when they head to Jefferson to face Greene County on Tuesday.

PCM defeated the Rams by more than 30 points in both of their meetings last year.