Prairie Home sophomore Shianne Rhorer finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, helping the Lady Panthers to a 49-45 victory over Russellville in girls basketball action Friday night.
Junior Makayla Zey added 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Lady Panthers, who improved to 11-3 overall. Sophomore Rachel Distler had 10 points.
"It's a great win," said Prairie Home head coach Linda Scott. "Russellville is a big Class 2 school, and it's hard for small schools to be competitive. They bring intensity and speed. This is what we needed."
Russellville senior Haley Windsor finished with 18 points, while senior Justice Miller had 13 and sophomore McKendra Fischer scored 10. The Lady Indians dropped to 3-14.
"It was a tight ball game the whole way," Russellville head coach David Volkart said. "I couldn't be more proud with our effort. It was our third game this week, including back-to-back nights. We really fought hard. Our girls played hard enough to win, but had a few breakdowns here and there."
The Lady Indians took a 16-10 lead after the first quarter, but Prairie Home got within 25-23 at halftime. The teams played to a tie in the third quarter, leaving Russellville with a slim 35-33 advantage.
The Lady Panthers took control in the final period, opening a 44-40 edge on Rhorer's layup with 2:40 left. Russellville cut the deficit to 46-45 on Miller's 3-pointer with 24 seconds left, but Rhorer hit one free throw and Distler made two free throws to seal the win. The Lady Indians had turnovers on their final two offensive possessions.
"I knew this was the kind of game it was going to be," Scott said. "That's why we wanted to play bigger schools this year. I thought this would be a close game."
Volkart said his team learned a valuable lesson in the closing moments.
"We made some inexperienced mistakes," he said. "When you haven't been in those situations much, you need to learn how to win. Once we get over the hump, it's more mental than anything else."
Scott has been pleased with her team's effort through 14 games.
"We're right where we want to be," she said. "We've lost two games to the No. 1 seed in our district, Tuscumbia. If we continue to win, we should be the No. 2 seed. We're exactly where I thought we'd be right now."