Sophomore Cyerra Hutchins scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half and Prairie raced past injury-plagued Jefferson, 61-37, Friday night in a Mississippi Valley Conference girls basketball game at Prairie.

“She did a good job being aggressive and attacking the basket in the second half,” Prairie coach Steve Doser said of Hutchins.

“I wasn’t mentally in the game in the first half,” Hutchins said. “My teammates fired me up and coach said to drive in the second half.”

Jefferson came into the game with just eight healthy girls available, three that had never played significant high school minutes. By the end of the first half the J-Hawks were down another starter and all but out of the game. Junior forward Rachel Broghammer went down with an apparent ankle injury at the end of the half.

Taylor Jacobson is still out for Jefferson with an ankle sprain and sophomore Kieley Brathwaite injured her knee in a JV game Monday. Jacobson is likely out until after Christmas, Brathwaite at least a week.

Jefferson’s shorthanded bench takes nothing away from the young Prairie Hawks' big win. The Hawks (3-1, 2-0 MVC) were missing starting senior Katilyn Yanecek who is out with a concussion. Prairie counted on a pair of juniors, a pair of seniors, and a pair of freshman to get the majority of the job done. Sophomore Madison Dellamuth had 13 points.

“Neither of us sub many girls,” Doser said. “We wanted to run and attack.”

Prairie executed its plan from the opening tip, jumping to a 6-2 lead. The Hawks ended the first quarter of play up 15-9 and never looked back.

Prairie’s press and active man defense gave Jefferson trouble all night as the Hawks use turnovers and poor J-Hawk shooting to extend the lead in each quarter.

After leading by 11 at the break, Hutchins and the Hawks got easy points to push their lead to 19 and all but put the game out of reach by the end of the third quarter.

Juniors Maddie Koolbeck and Kaitlyn Davidson led the J-Hawks (1-2, 0-2) with 11 points each.

JEFFERSON (37): Kaitlyn Davidson 3 2-2 11, Maddy Blietz 4 0-0 8, Dani Stromert 1 1-2 3, Rachel Broghammer 1 2-2 4, Maddie Koolbeck 5 1-1 11, Kylie Jonas 0 0-0 0, Hannah Towns 0 0-0 0, Molly Evans 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 6-7 37.

PRAIRIE (61): Emily Rotter 3 1-2 7, Cyerra Hutchins 9 0-1 18, Alisa Weiland 4 0-0 11, Courteney McCrary 3 2-2 8, Madison Dellamuth 6 1-1 13, Mackenzie Serbousek 2 0-1 4, Abby Ganske 0 0-0 0, Allison Neuhaus 0 0-0 0, Taylor Sanders 0 0-0 0, Kiana Jackson 0 0-0 0, Josie Wagner 0 0-0 0, Marisa Adams 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 4-7 61.

Halftime – Prairie 29, Jefferson 18. 3-Point Goals – Jefferson 3 (Davidson 3), Prairie 3 (Weiland 3), Total Fouls – Jefferson 7, Prairie 8.