Prairie City/Burnt River’s Jaycee Winegar drives the ball while being defended by Crane’s Josie Taylor during their High Desert League matchup on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023. The Lady Mustangs left Prairie City with a 40-29 win.

Now they know where they stand.

The Lady Panthers welcomed top-ranked Crane to Prairie City on Saturday, Jan. 21, and made it a game early before ultimately falling 40-29 to suffer just their second loss of the season.

The Prairie City/Burnt River girls squad had played the visitors mostly even more than halfway through the first half, trailing 8-9 with 3:05 left until the intermission. A 10-1 Lady Mustang run to end the first half left the Lady Panthers staring at a 10-point deficit they would spend the rest of the game tying to overcome.

They Lady Panthers came out inspired to open the second half, scoring the first six points of the third quarter and cutting the Lady Mustang lead to four at 19-15. But that would be as close as the Lady Panthers would get for the rest of the contest.

The Lady Mustangs would outscore the Lady Panthers 11-5 the rest of the way through the third quarter. Five straight Crane points to end the third would see the Lady Mustangs go back up by double digits at 20-30 entering the final period of play.

Unlike the third quarter, the fourth quarter wouldn’t see the Lady Panthers cut into the Crane lead early in the period. Instead, the Lady Mustangs sustained their lead as both teams found points hard to come by throughout most of the fourth quarter.

Seven of the nine points the Lady Panthers scored in the fourth quarter came with less than 2:00 left in the game. Up until that point, the Lady Panthers had managed just two points in the fourth.

The Lady Panthers had an opportunity. Crane was mired in their own scoring drought throughout most of the final quarter, managing just three points through the first half of the period.

The Lady Panthers just couldn’t capitalize, falling 40-29 as a result.

Leading the Lady Panthers on offense was Savannah Watterson, who finished with seven points. Laken McKay and Jaycee Winegar each chipped in six points for the Lady Panthers.

Senior Betty Ann Wilson also got involved, adding five points.

The loss drops the Prairie City/Burnt River girls squad to 15-2 on the season and leaves them sixth in the OSAA 1A girls basketball rankings.

The Lady Panthers will be in action next on Thursday, Jan. 26, when they host the Lady Tigers of Dayville/Monument. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.