RUSSELLVILLE, Mo. - The Russellville Indians girls basketball team improved to 5-3 on the year, after a 68-22 win Dec. 10 over the Prairie Home Panthers. Prairie Home fell to 1-7 on the year with the loss.
Russellville was in control from the start of the game, as they led 22-0 until Prairie Home finally got on the board with a free throw with 2:46 left to play in the first quarter.
Russellville only gave up four points in the first quarter, as they led 28-4.
Indians head coach David Volkart said the team played solid defense.
"Our full-court pressure set the tone for us," Volkart said.
Panthers head coach Mark McLaughlin said the team struggled with their matchups.
"I felt that our effort was okay and improved through the game; but it was a tough challenge against a really fine, deep, established team," McLaughlin said.
Chyan Wilkes led Russellville with a game-high 22 points. And both Allison Schrimf and Jayla Volkart scored 12 points. Maggie Wood led Prairie Home with 10 points and Ashlyn Twenter scored six.
Prairie Home played better in the second quarter, as they were only outscored by Russellville 11-10 in the quarter, but trailed 39-14 at halftime.
Russellville's defense again caused problems in the third quarter, as they did not allow the Panthers to score and outscored Prairie Home 25-0 in the quarter.
Prairie Home ended the game outscoring Russellville 8-4 in the fourth quarter.
While playing strong defense, Russellville struggled with fouls, as they had 16 of them in the game. Volkart said that the fouls were a result of the players being out of position. But they did a better job of it in the second half.
"We talked about that at halftime and I thought we did a nice job staying disciplined in the second half," Volkart said.