KNOXVILLE — Prairie City-Monroe girls’ basketball coach Jeff Lindsay preaches defense first when it comes to team philosophy.
On Tuesday night, the defense wasn’t as good as it needed to be, and it resulted in a 68-55 loss to Knoxville.
The Panthers hit 12-of-24 from behind the 3-point line in the win.
“We have to play better defense, that’s the bottom line,” Lindsay said. “Most of their 3-pointers were open shots. We are not understanding our shifts in the zone yet. We pride ourselves on defense and right now it’s not happening. It’s got to get tightened up.”
Fifty of Knoxville’s 68 points came from two players. Sophomore Katie Keitges buried five 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 27 points to lead the Panthers (1-0). Freshman Maggie Wilkins buried five treys, too, and scored 23 points.
PCM sophomore Regan Freland scored 21 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out eight assists to lead the Mustangs (1-1). Junior Morgan Uhlenhopp had 12 points and five rebounds, junior Camryn Wignall chipped in eight points and three assists and freshman Lilli Baird collected seven points and four rebounds.
Junior Megan Cowman also had four rebounds.
PCM doesn’t play again for nine days when it hosts Saydel for the Heart of Iowa Conference opener at 6 p.m. on Dec. 1 in Monroe.