March 28, 2024

PCM girls use stiff defense to shut down CMB

MONROE — For the first time this season, Collins-Maxwell/Baxter girls basketball coach Eric Padget thought his team just simply didn’t come ready to play.

The Raiders can get away with that against some teams in the Heart of Iowa Conference, but not against a Prairie City-Monroe squad which has only been defeated by ranked teams this season.

The Mustangs got into the lane with ease at the offensive end and used a stiff defense at the other end to jump out to an early lead, and the Raiders never recovered in a 44-29 home victory during Heart of Iowa Conference play.

It was PCM’s third straight win and the Mustangs are now winners of five of their last six games.

“From day one, our biggest brick in the foundation has been defense,” PCM coach Jeff Lindsay said. “If the shots aren’t falling, defense can win games for you and this was one of those nights.”

CMB has now lost four of its last five games. The Raiders took just four shots in the first quarter and trailed 15-7 after eight minutes. PCM outscored CMB 13-4 in the second quarter.

“We weren’t ready to play when we came here tonight,” Padget said. “That’s something we discussed at halftime, and we played better in the second half. But we didn’t play with any aggressiveness, any hustle or any heart in the first half.”

Senior Kayla Jennings scored 15 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out four assists and had six steals to lead PCM, while freshman Regan Freland scored a game-high 18 points. Senior Katie Vande Wall scored eight points in the first quarter and finished with nine and also grabbed seven boards.

CMB (7-8 overall, 5-5 in the HOIC) got within 11 points early in the third quarter following treys by senior Emily Coughenour and juniors Brianda Bane and Sailor Hinegardner.

Freland scored five points in the third and a pair of free throws by Jennings kept the Mustangs’ deficit in double figures heading into the final quarter.

Bane continued to give the Raiders a chance at a comeback. She scored on a putback and then buried another triple to get CMB as close as 12.

Jennings made a layup and then Freland put the game away at the free-throw line down the stretch.

“We knew coming into the night it was going to be tough,” Lindsay said. “We were on cloud nine the night before, so I was concerned with how our energy would be after an up-tempo fast paced game and coming off the high from the win and then playing against a physical team like CMB.

“They made some adjustments and it looked like we hit a wall in the third quarter. The night before started to catch up with us so we stopped attacking and just tried to run some clock. We were able to do that and make some shots from the line in the fourth.”

Bane led CMB with 13 points, five blocks and three rebounds. She was 3-of-9 from long range. The Raiders made 10-of-30 from the floor and connected on just 5-of-17 from 3-point range.

Hinegardner added five points, two rebounds and two assists, senior Megan Ritter scored four points, senior Kathleen Baldwin grabbed five boards and senior Mikayla Eslinger tallied four rebounds.

“We played with a little more heart and intensity in the second half,” Padget said. “We just didn’t take enough shots in the first half. We weren’t taking driving lanes that were there and were happy to just be passing it around. PCM Is an athletic and a tall team. You can’t pass it around them. You have to draw a defender to you and then make the pass and we weren’t doing that at all.”

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter 7-4-11-7 — 29

Prairie City-Monroe 15-13-7-9 — 44

CMB (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Hinegardner 2/1-0-0-5, Coughenour 1/1-0-2-3, Ziesman 0-2-2-2, Baldwin 0-2-3-2, Bane 5/3-0-3-13, Ritter 2-0-3-4, Houge 0-0-1-0, Eslinger 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 10/5-4-15-29.

PCM (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Freland 6/2-4-2-18, Vande Wall 3-3-3-5, Stafford 0-0-3-0, Jennings 5-5-0-15, Townsend 0-0-3-0, Broderson 1-0-1-2, Timmins 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 15/2-12-12-44.