Mustangs can’t overcome poor quarter in loss to Roland-Story

MONROE — Aside from one stretch of play late in the second quarter, the Prairie City-Monroe girls’ basketball team played Class 3A No. 8 Roland-Story nearly point-for-point at home during a Heart of Iowa Conference contest Friday night.

The Mustangs were even with the Norse 10-all after one quarter, and they outscored their visitors 18-16 in the second half. Unfortunately, Roland-Story put the game away with a barrage of 3-pointers late in the second quarter during a 51-38 win.

“We need to put four quarters of it together. We are darn close,” PCM coach Jeff Lindsay said.

Roland-Story held a narrow 16-15 lead midway through the second quarter before closing out the period on a 19-5 run. During that stretch, Roland-Story buried five 3-pointers. The Norse hit seven treys in the game.

“Lack of communication was the key there late in the second quarter,” Lindsay said. “We are going to have to play more man to man with these teams that have shooters, and that means we have to communicate better. We have worked on it to a certain point, but it’s something that we have to get better at.”

PCM was tied with the Norse after one quarter despite getting no points from its top three scorers — sophomore Regan Freland, freshman Lilli Baird and junior Camryn Wignall.

Junior Sloan Hjortshoj scored all six of her points in the first frame to keep the Mustangs close.

Freland, who came into the game averaging nearly 20 points per game, got going in the second quarter, putting in eight of her 15. She hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Mustangs into the locker room down 35-20 at halftime.

“We have to get back on track offensively. We can’t always just rely on Regan to do stuff,” Lindsay said. “Regan got some others involved, and we capitalized on some things early, but we have to be more creative and be able to run our offense and not just run around.”

Baird and Freland each scored to begin the third quarter, pulling PCM within 11. Wignall then hit a 3-pointer and Freland’s trey at the end of the quarter closed the gap to nine heading into the fourth.

The Mustangs, who have lost four out of their last five games, got within seven after Freland converted a layup between two defenders early in the fourth.

That was as close as PCM (5-9 overall, 3-5 in the HOIC) would get.

“They are a more experienced team, and that showed,” Lindsay said. “As we continue to get more experience under our belts, I think we’ll surprise some people by the end of the year.”

The Mustangs continued to prove their are getting better with each game. Aside from committing 20 turnovers, they were better than the eighth-ranked team in the state for three quarters. And were tied after one period despite Freland not taking a single shot.

“That’s the growth we are starting to see. That’s a huge positive,” Lindsay said. “I am not the type of coach that is going to tell them something that isn’t true. I will be flat out honest with them, and right now each game, regardless of the score, we are improving.”

Freland, the HOIC’s second-leading scorer, finished with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals, and junior Morgan Uhlenhopp added six points and 15 boards. Hjortshoj scored six points, Baird chipped in four points, four rebounds and two assists and Wignall tallied three points, three rebounds and two assists.

Jenna Clark led all scorers with 16 points for Roland-Story, which won its fifth straight to improve to 12-2 overall and 6-2 in the HOIC. Susie Weaver added 10 points.

Roland-Story 10-25-6-10 — 51

PCM 10-10-12-6 — 38

Roland-Story (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Jenna Clark 6/2-2-0-16, Juliann Clark 2/1-1-1-6, Madeline Morton 3/2-0-1-8, Susie Weaver 4/2-0-1-10, Amy Rathmacher 0-0-0-0. MaKayla Geise 1-0-1-2, Kylie Tjernagel 0-2-3-2. Totals 19/7-6-9-51.

PCM — Camryn Wignall 1/1-0-0-3, Sloan Hjortshoj 3-0-1-6, Lilli Baird 2-0-2-4, Regan Freland 5/2-3-3-15, Morgan Uhlenhopp 2-2-2-6, Megan Cowman 0-0-1-0, Sierra Foster 0-0-4-0, Emma George 1-0-0-2. Totals 15/3-5-13-38.