Splitting the difference

One up. One down. Sauk Prairie’s girls basketball team split a pair of games last week. The Eagles defeated River Valley, 62-47, on Dec. 10. Sauk Prairie then dropped a 43-37 overtime decision at Mount Horeb last Friday. Here’s a recap of the Eagles’ week. • Sauk Prairie 62, River Valley 47 — Mallory Hartwig had 18 points and nine rebounds to power the Eagles past River Valley. Ava Brings added 12 points and five steals, while Audrey Brickl had 10 points. Gracyn Meyer added eight points, three rebounds and three assists, and Macee Gulden hauled in four rebounds. The Eagles led, 38-33, at halftime, then pulled away in the second half when they limited River Valley to just 14 points. “Valley is a much improved team and they played incredibly physical,” Sauk Prairie coach Jacob Breunig said. “They were very guard oriented and were a difficult matchup at times.   “I was not happy with our first half defensive performance but we showed what we are capable of in the second half only giving up 14 points. I think our girls learned they need to come prepared all the time and have energy from the get go instead of trying to match energy. It was good to get a win in our home opener and score some points.” • Mount Horeb 43, Sauk Prairie 37 (OT) — The Eagles let an eight point lead get away in the final 3 ½ minutes of regulation and fell in overtime. “Mount Horeb was a frustrating game in many aspects,” Breunig said. “We played great defense. We did not allow many points and the girls had awesome effort. The frustrations came from our turnovers and missed shots. We set ourselves up to get good looks, but at some point we need to be consistent in finishing the basketball.” Sauk Prairie held a 15-14 halftime lead. Neither team could take the lid off the basket for much of the second half either, although the visiting Eagles managed to take a 33-25 lead with 3 ½ minutes left. Mount Horeb finished regulation on an 8-0 burst, though, and the game went to overtime tied, 33-33. Vikings freshman guard Lauren Mester, who was 8-of-8 at the free throw line, hit two free throws with 18.6 seconds left to force overtime. “We have had some tough and very offensively challenged games with Sauk the last three years and this game was no different,” Mount Horeb coach Bart Leibfried said. “Jacob (Breunig) and I joked walking out at halftime that the first team to 30 would win.” Mester made two free throws with 2:57 left in overtime to give the Eagles a 35-33 lead, then Sauk Prairie answered with a 3-pointer to take a 36-35 lead. But Mester drilled a 3-pointer with 2:15 left to give Mount Horeb a 38-36 advantage it wouldn’t relinquish. After a Sauk Prairie free throw, Mount Horeb’s Courtney Monroe and Maren Johnson both made one free throw, Mester drilled a pair of foul shots and Morgan Monroe made one free throw. “We had a lot of chances to win the game in regulation, but did not score the last four minutes,” Breunig said. “We had some turnovers and missed opportunities late, in which if we take care of the ball, get fouled, go to the line and capitalize we walk out with a win.   “It was a great learning game for us and one that we will hopefully learn from and feel comfortable in close game situations in the future. Mount Horeb is very well coached and their girls all did a great job in the game plan against us.” • On deck: Sauk Prairie hosted Stoughton Tuesday, hosts Baraboo Thursday at 7:15 p.m., then is at Portage Friday at 7:15 p.m.