PCM girls bounce back against CMB

BAXTER — When the game was on the line, and the Prairie City-Monroe girls basketball team needed some momentum on the road, the Mustangs went back to what has always worked in the first two seasons under coach Jeff Lindsay.

Trailing 15-12 after one quarter against Collins-Maxwell/Baxter, the Mustangs ramped up their defense. They held the Raiders to a single point in the second quarter and never looked back during a 56-40 road win in Heart of Iowa Conference play.

“We lost a couple of their shooters early on. We talked about it before the game, and we had a good idea of who to cover up from outside,” Lindsay said. “We lost them a few times early, and they made us pay.

“We tightened things up after that, and our press may have wore them down a little bit.”

The Raiders stayed within striking distance the entire game, but PCM put the finishing touches on its fifth win of the year when the Mustangs hit all 11 of their free throw attempts in the fourth quarter. PCM was 25-of-34 from the foul line in the game.

“That right there, is a huge plus for us,” Lindsay said. “We have talked about improving our free throw shooting. You need to hit those even if its a double-digit lead. I hope it gives us some confidence at the line moving forward.”

CMB matched a season-high with six 3-pointers. Three of those came in the first quarter as the Raiders went in front after back-to-back makes by junior Brianda Bane.

Senior Emily Coughenour drained another trey in the frame, and two free throws apiece by seniors Mikayla Eslinger and Kathleen Baldwin gave the Raiders a 15-12 lead after one quarter.

CMB (3-3 overall, 1-3 in the HOIC) couldn’t hang onto the momentum though. PCM outscored the Raiders 13-1 in the second frame and led by nine at halftime.

“The difference was they switched to a man-to-man defense, and we didn’t handle it well,” CMB coach Eric Padget said. “I am not sure why them switching to man confused us, but it did. It took us a quarter and a halftime talk to figure it out, and you can’t do that against a good team.

Lindsay said it took his team about a quarter to play the lock-down defense they have played all season.

“Once the girls got an idea of what CMB liked to do, we were able to make adjustments and anticipate the passing lanes,” Lindsay said.

Freshman Regan Freland tied the game at 15-all, and then the Mustangs went ahead for good following three straight buckets by seniors Bailey Brodersen, Kayla Jennings and Freland.

PCM led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter. Senior Katie Vande Wall scored six of the Mustangs’ first 10 points of the frame to put her squad up 35-20. They led 41-28 after three quarters.

“We were just timid against a team that likes to put lots of pressure on the outside,” Padget said. “The fact that we were timid made the pressure look even worse.”

The Raiders hit their final three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and that helped the hosts stay within striking distance.

Jennings kept PCM in front though as she scored 11 of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. She was 9-of-9 from the line in the frame and 10-of-11 overall.

“Outside of the fouling at the end of the game, we played even with them if you take away that second quarter,” Padget said. “We only gave up one 3-pointer and played pretty good defense, and that’s what we had to do to have a chance.”

Vande Wall scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in the win.

No other Mustang reached double-figures but Brodersen and seniors Kaylee Townsend and Rachel Stafford all scored six and Freland added five.

“They did a good job defensively, too,” Lindsay said. “We have to be sharper on our passes and just take what is given to us. We rushed too many shots.”

Brodersen and Townsend each had five rebounds, Stafford chipped in three boards and three assists and Freland collected three steals.

Bane and Coughenour combined to bury all six of the Raiders’ 3-pointers and both players scored 11 points. Bane added seven boards, and Coughenour finished with three steals.

Eslinger tallied 10 points and five rebounds and Baldwin delivered four points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

“We have shown so far that we are not a one-man team,” Padget said. “We have other players besides (Bane) who can score so that should help us moving forward.”

There were 40 fouls called in the game. CMB made more 3-pointers (6) than 2-pointers (2). The Raiders stayed close by connecting on 18-of-23 from the line.

Prairie City-Monroe 12-13-16-15 — 56

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter 15-1-12-12 — 40

PCM (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP) — Freland 2-1-2-5, Vande Wall 3-8-2-14, Stafford 3-0-2-6, Jennings 4/1-10-4-19, Brodersen 2-2-4-6, Townsend 1-4-3-6, Timmins 0-0-2-0. Totals 14/1-25-19-56.

CMB (FG-3pt-FT-F-TP) — Hinegardner 0-0-2-0, Coughenour 3/3-2-4-11, Ziesman 0-4-4-4, Baldwin 0-4-4-4, Eslinger 2-6-3-10, Bane 3/3-2-4-11. Totals 8/6-18-21-40.