The Greene County varsity girls basketball team has now won as many games as during the entire 2019-20 season with a 34-27 overtime win over the Prairie City-Monroe Mustangs at home Dec. 11. The Rams’ win also ended a run of 15 losses to the Mustangs.
The Rams handled the ball better than in the two previous games, reducing the number of turnovers from 42 to 31. PCM committed 20 turnovers, but the Rams’ advantage came in shooting. The Rams made 12 of 34 shots from the floor for 35.3 percent, while the Mustangs made only nine of 47 shots for 19.1 percent.
The Rams scored first and held an 8-3 advantage after one quarter of play, but they took a lead of only one point, 14-13, into the locker room at the half.
The entire second half was a battle. The Rams fell behind by five points, 19-14, but scrapped for a 19-point tie to end the third quarter. The Rams were behind most of the fourth quarter, but never by more than three points. With three minutes left on the clock the Rams led 25-24, but a foul sent the Mustangs to the charity line. Luck was with the Rams, as PCM’s Emma George made one of two foul shots to tie the game, not to take the lead. The Mustangs were at the foul line again with 1.2 seconds to play, but Paige Steenhoek missed and the game went into overtime.
The Rams maintained composure during the extra four minutes and put up nine points to the Mustangs’ two, claiming a 34-27 victory. Free throws were big in the OT; Brianna Habben and Lily Muir both sank field goals, and Emma Hoyle made three of four free throws and Habben made two of two.
Habben led in scoring with 15 points, followed by Sadie Wilson with eight points, including a pair of 3-point baskets. Brianna Osterson and Hoyle made four points each and Natalie Heupel made one point. Muir led the Rams in rebounds with 10.
The Ram girls are 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference. The Mustangs are 0-7 overall and 0-2 in the HOIAC
The Ram boys have yet to have all their starters available to play and they have yet to win a game. A 63-51 loss to the Mustangs put them at 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Starter Jackson Morton is still out due to an injury sustained in the last football game of the season. Starter Jesse Miller and three other Rams missed the Dec. 11 game due to other health reasons.
The Rams struggled the entire game. The Mustangs put up six points before Bryce Stalder made one of two free throws to put the Rams on the board with just more than four minutes to play in the first quarter. The clock showed 1:55 left in the quarter before Stalder made a 3-point shot. Those were the Rams’ only points of the quarter; they were down 17-4 when the buzzer sounded.
The managed to score 12 points in the second quarter, but the visiting Mustangs added 21 points to their tally. The score at halftime was 38-16. The Rams’ shooting was better in the third quarter as they scored 21 points to the Mustangs nine, narrowing PCM’s lead to 10 points at 47-37.
The Rams were down by only seven pints, 50-43, with 5:55 to play in the game, but they couldn’t shorten the lead any more than that. The final score was 63-51.
Stalder scored 22 points for theRams, including four three-point baskets and four of five free throws. Max Riley scored 10 points with one trey and one for one at the line. Zach Goff scored eight points with two threes and a two. He also led in rebounds with 11. Richard Daugherty scored eight with two threes and two for two free throws. Caden Telleen made a trey in the fourth quarter.
The Rams made 27 of 51 shots from the floor, including 10 of 31 shots from 3–point range for an effective field goal percentage of 43.1 percent. They made seven of eight free throws for 87.5 percent.
The Mustangs are now 1-1 in the HOIAC and 1-4 overall.
Both Ram teams were scheduled to play in Perry against the Blue Jays Saturday afternoon. The games were postponed to a future date.
