Rocky Bennett, the activities director at Prairie, made a good prediction before the Prairie girls basketball team played Waterloo East Tuesday night.

Bennett remarked that "The Prairie squad was young, improving, and with the enthusiasm of Coach (Steve) Doser at the helm, they were going to continue to improve as the season moves along."

He was right on this night. The Hawks buried Waterloo East, 74-26.

Prairie looked determined on defense and unselfish on offense, a good combination. It showed as the Hawks grabbed a 35-11 halftime lead, scored the first 11 points of the second half and cruised to the 48-point victory.

Mackenzie Blaha, a 5-foot-5 senior, and freshman sensation Madison Dellamuth each scored 13 points. Shelby Crist chipped in with 12 points and Alisa Weiland completed the double-figure scoring with 11.

Doser kept preaching that "bigness is in the heart," and was impressed by improved rebounding in the second half.

"This team is wonderful to work with and they really hustle and typically outrebound the opposing team, but I still wouldn't mind a 6-foot-3 move-in in the middle!" he declared.

Waterloo East made only 10 field goals. Latrice McMullen led the Trojans (1-7, 0-7) with 10 points.

WATERLOO EAST (26): Robinson 3 0-1 6, O'Connell 1 1-2 3, Kinnetz 0 0-0 0, Frazier 1 0-0 2, Baker-Bruce 0 0-0 0, McMullen 4 2-5 10, Hatchett 0 0-0 0, Riggins 1 2-4 4, Ford 0 1-2 1. Totals: 10 6-14 26.

PRAIRIE (74): Yanecek 2 0-0 4, Carver 1 0-2 2, Crist 4 4-5 12, Weiland 4 0-0 11, Wieland 1 0-0 2, Tonyan 0 0-0 0, McCrary 2 0-0 4, Gaster 1 0-0 3, Blaha 5 0-0 13, Dellamuth 6 1-3 13, Beisker 1 0-0 2, Carney 1 0-0 2, Neuhaus 1 0-0 2, Hutchins 2 0-0 4. Totals: 31 5-10 74.

Halftime -- Prairie 35, Waterloo East 11. 3-point goals -- Waterloo East 0, Prairie 7 (Weiland 3, Blaha 3, Gaster 1).