The Linn-Mar girls basketball team improved by 29 points in 42 days to get revenge against Cedar Rapids Prairie Friday night.

Freshman Lannie Nietert scored a career-best 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Lions spanked the 10th-ranked Hawks, 52-43, on Hall of Fame night at Linn-Mar.

It was quite a turnaround, considering the Hawks ran the Lions out of the gym in their first meeting at Prairie on Dec. 16, 63-43. Linn-Mar lost the first game by 20 points, then won the rematch by nine points for a 29-point swing.

"The last game we played against Prairie was a great learning experience for us and we found out some things that we weren't very good at," said Linn-Mar Coach Mike Brandt. "So hopefully we've cleaned that up a little bit."

In their first meeting six weeks ago, the Hawks pestered the Lions all night long with full-court pressure that forced a string of turnovers and easy buckets.

Also in that first meeting, Linn-Mar went with a man-to-man defense much of the game and paid the price. The Lions (9-8, 5-7) switched to a zone defense Friday night, cut down on their turnovers and collected a good victory.

"We did a much better job of keeping them out of the lane," said Brandt. "The last time we played them they just went by us a lot. They got in the lane and got easy shots.

"Our goal tonight was to make sure that we contested every shot and kept them in front of us so that we didn't give up easy layups and easy shots."

Prairie had won eight straight games before losing to Kennedy Tuesday night, and now the Hawks (11-5, 8-4) have dropped two straight road contests.

"We've lost our moxie. We're trying to get it back," said Prairie Coach Steve Doser.

The Hawks held an early 11-5 lead, but Linn-Mar scored 10 straight points in the second quarter and led 24-19 at intermission. Alexis Libenguth, a 6-foot-2 junior, used her height advantage and scored five points during the 10-0 spurt.

Prairie battled back and tied the game, 40-40, with a 12-point surge of its own in the second half, but the Hawks could not get the lead and fell back.

Courtney Major made a three-point play to give Linn-Mar a 43-40 lead with 2:33 left, then Sara Strauel hit a layup for a 45-40 advantage.

Courteney McCrary pulled the Hawks within 45-42 with two free throws, but Linn-Mar made 5-of-6 free throws to take a 50-42 lead with 49.7 seconds remaining. Nietert, who was promoted to the varsity from the sophomore team this month, made four of those free throws and finished the scoring with a layup.

Nietert was promoted after Shanice Cheatham tore her ACL and Rachel Thrune was idled for a month.

"She's just growing and getting better every day," said Brandt. "Very, very strong kid. She's got a great attitude and she's got a great demeanor to be a varsity basketball player as a freshman. She really came through for us.

"That's the No.l thing we want out of her, just to be physical and rebound the ball. Scoring is a plus."

The Lions finished with a 10-high straight in the scoring column, in poker terms. Jenna Harms scored 6 points, Strauel finished with 7, Mykaela Brandt had 8, Major finished with 9 and Nietert had 10.

McCrary led Prairie with 14 points. She did not start the game due to illness, then got into foul trouble and missed important stretches of the contest.

PRAIRIE (43): Yanacek 2 0-0 4, Hutchins 2 1-3 5, Weiland 3 0-0 8, Dellamuth 3 2-6 8, Rotter 1 2-3 4, McCrary 3 8-9 14, Ganske 0 0-0 0, Freeman 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 13-21 43.

LINN-MAR (52): Yearling 1 3-4 5, Brandt 2 3-3 8, Strauel 3 1-2 7, Harms 2 2-3 6, Major 3 1-1 9, Libenguth 2 1-1 5, Ryder 0 0-0 0, Eiles 1 0-0 2, Nietert 3 4-4 10. Totals 17 15-18 52.

Halftime - Linn-Mar 24, Prairie 19. 3-point goals - Prairie 2 (Weiland 2), Linn-Mar 3 (Major 2, Brandt 1).