<I>The Eagle/David Heldreth</I><BR>Prairie City's Katie Cary looks for an open teammate as members of the Grant Union JV team surround her during the teams' Dec. 5 game in Prairie City.

PRAIRIE CITY – The Prairie City girls basketball team stopped Colleen Hunt, but not North Lake this weekend.

The Panthers fell 46-32 to the Cowgirls in the championship game of the Prairie City Tip-Off Tournament Dec. 6. Prairie City coach Penny Black said North Lake’s Hunt is one of the state’s premier guards and stopping her was a huge part of the Panther’s game plan.

Prairie City held Hunt to nine points, mostly thanks to the efforts of Panther Sherree Wright.

“I put our best guard on her (Hunt) to help slow her down and take her out of plays defensively,” Black said.

However, the Panthers failed to execute on offense in the second and fourth quarters. They only scored two points in the second quarter. Prairie City outscored North Lake 18-10 in the third quarter to close the gap to 33-28, but allowed the Cowgirls to pull away late in the game. The Panthers scored just four points in the final quarter.

Prairie City also struggled from the line, shooting 22 percent while North Lake shot 52 percent. The Panthers shot 18 free throws in the game.

“It might have been a different game if we had shot better free throws,” Black said.

Despite the setbacks, the Panthers have improved from last season. They had problems with rebounding throughout the year. That wasn’t a problem during the tournament. Prairie City’s Katie Cary had 24 rebounds in the North Lake game. She also had nine points, three steals and three assists.

“Katie Cary has a presence on the court,” Black said. “It’s great how she’s matured as only a sophomore.”

Cary wasn’t the only Panther to improve in the post. Salona Mecham 14 rebounds against Grant Union’s junior varisty in Prairie City’s first game of the tournament. Kieley Williams had nine rebounds as well. Prairie City beat Grant Union 56-25.

“Salona needs to mature a little,” Black said. “She plays great, but she gets a little keyed up. She just needs to slow down and control the ball a little more. She played some pretty important minutes.”

Prairie City started High Desert League games against Mitchell Tuesday, Dec. 9, past press time. Readers can check www.myeaglenews.com for updates. Prairie City will play in Adrian Dec. 12 and Jordan Valley Dec. 13.