After a ragged first quarter, the Prairie girls started playing more like the ninth-ranked team in the state at home Friday night and poured it on Mount Pleasant 58-26.

“We started out kind of slow,” said Hawk sparkplug point guard Madison Dellamuth. “But then we turned up the defense.”

That was turning point in the game, according to running mate Courteney McCrary.

“Our defense won the game,” she said. “When we picked it up defensively, it picked up the offense. We stared running our offense, and that turned into some layups.”

Both teams had started their season by losing to Class 5A fourth-ranked Muscatine, Prairie by 21 and Mount Pleasant by 26.

And they continued their sluggish performance against each other, with the Hawks squeezing out a 13-9 lead after one quarter.  In the period, Prairie committed eight fouls and an equal number of traveling violations.

Ever-patient Coach Steve Doser blamed the sloppy play on his team trying to adjust to a revolving door of players brought on by injuries. Expected starter Emilie Rotter was lost for the season with a torn ACL, and Dellamuth is coming off the same injury suffered in the final game last year.  Rugged rebounder Cyerra Hutchins didn’t play against Muscatine after spraining her ankle in warmups and saw limited action Friday. Her replacement, Makenzie Stoffer, sat out the game after hurting her ankle last week. Post player Kaytlyn Oellrich, meanwhile, is hampered by a sore hamstring.

Then there’s senior southpaw sharpshooter Alisa Weiland, who broke her left hand in a scrimmage two months ago and plays with a heavily-taped wrist.

“We’re shuffling a lot of new people in and out,” said Doser. “We’re not using our regular lineup, and the girls are having to adjust to it.”

They did start to click when Hutchins came off the bench and began battling on the boards.

“That was a key,” Doser said. “And we go a lot better defensive pressure.”

For the game, the Hawks turned in 18 steals, with McCrary and Weiland each recording four.  Hutchins led the team with five rbounds.  And playmaker Dellamuth, who prefers passing to shooting, had four assists.

Despite a gimpy shooting hand, Weland led all scorers with 19 points.  With feeds from McCrary and Dellamuth, she got hot in the second quarter as Prairie pulled away by 13 at halftime.

And the Hawks came out on fire after the intermission, turning a 13-1 run into a 25-point lead after three quarters.  They held the Panthers, meanwhile, to just eight points in the second and third periods.

“My wrist felt a little tender,” said Weiland afterward. “But it really didn’t hurt.”

And Dellamuth said she feels back to full strength after surgeries in both April and June on her knee and seven months of rehabilitation.

“It feels great,“ she said. “I’m practicing harder, and I’ll be playing more in every game. I don’t even think about it anymore.”

MOUNT  PLEASANT (26): Taryne Hull 3 2-2 9, Kelsi Phipps 0 1-2 1, Leslie Taylor 0 1-2 1, Natalie Myers 1 2-2 4, Mary Wester 2 0-0 4, Shelby Allender 0 0-0 0, Jena Stukerjurgen 0 2-4 2, Natalie Ita 1 1-1 3, Hattie Liechty 0 0-0 0, Hannah Becker 0 0-0 0, Carolyn Lutovsky 1 0-0 2. Totals 8 9-13 26.

PRAIRIE (58): Courteney McCrary 3 1-2 7, Alisa Weiland 8 1-2 19, Olivia Usher 2 0-0 5, Madison Dellamuth 2 4-6 9, Rachel Shelangoski 2 0-0 4, Taylor Moenk 2 4-7 8, Cyerra Hutchins 2 1-2 6, Haley Street 0 0-0 0, Lynsey Altenhofen 0 0-0 0, Grace Gudenkauf 0 0-0 0, Emily Machula 0 0-0 0, Kaytlyn Oellrich 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 11-19 58.

Halftime – Prairie 26, Mount Pleasant 13. 3-point goals – Mount Pleasant 1 (Shull), Prairie 5 (Weiland 2, Hutchins, Usher, Dellamuth). Total fouls – Mount Pleasant 19, Prairie 16. Fouled out – Wester.