Prairie City/Burnt River’s Betty Ann Wilson drives for a layup during her team’s matchup with Four Rivers on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. Wilson led all Lady Panther scorers with 12 points.

The Prairie City/Burnt River girls basketball team has it all clicking right now.

The fifth-ranked Lady Panthers welcomed Four Rivers to town on Saturday, Jan. 14, and sent them home as the victims of a thorough 47-20 beating for their 14th win of the season.

The Lady Panthers pounced on the Lady Falcons early, building a 27-11 halftime lead on the heels of solid defense and hustle.

The second half produced more of the same.

Prairie City/Burnt River would go on a small 6-3 run to start the third quarter before timeout was called by Four Rivers with 5:00 left in the period in an attempt to stall Lady Panther momentum. The timeout didn’t have the desired effect as the Lady Panthers continued to pour it on, outscoring the Lady Falcons 10-4 after the timeout to take a commanding 43-18 lead headed into the final quarter of play.

The Lady Falcons would again use a timeout in an attempt to change the trajectory of the game. This time, it was to get their own scoring on track as they hadn’t scored a bucket in the final frame and were trailing 45-18 with 4:33 left in the game.

Prairie City/Burnt River only scored four points in the final quarter of play, but in the end it made little difference. Tough defense by the Lady Panther squad allowed the Lady Falcons only two points in the fourth quarter and nine points throughout all of the second half.

The Lady Panthers won the game 47-20 for their third victory in a row and their 14th of the season. The Lady Panthers haven’t dropped a game since their 58-32 loss to fourth-ranked Nixyaawii during the Baker Holiday Crossover tournament last month.

Pacing the Lady Panthers on offense was Betty Ann Wilson, who finished with 12 points. Fellow senior Kat Ashley was not too far behind, adding nine points.

Jaycee Winegar had eight points in a solid outing. Two other Lady Panthers finished with seven points on the day.

Lady Panther head basketball coach Bo Workman said his team played well and did a good job of not playing down to their competition.

“Betty is distributing the ball really well and has all season, and now the girls are catching it and making their shots when they’re open,” he added. “Our defense is doing really well, too.”

Workman said his team is playing so well that it can be a challenge to get them up and motivated against teams that are generally seen as weaker competition.

“Some games, you know the competition is not as great so it’s easy to play down. I thought tonight they played pretty level and took care of business,” Workman said.

Next up for the Lady Panthers is a road matchup with Huntington on Friday, Jan. 20, before a massive league showdown with No. 1-ranked Crane in Prairie City on Saturday, Jan. 21. Tipoff for the Crane game is scheduled for 3 p.m.