Sauk Prairie’s girls split a pair

Sauk Prairie’s girls basketball team split a pair of games last week. The Eagles defeated Mount Horeb, 55-45, on Jan. 28. Sauk Prairie then fell to Stoughton, 60-47, on Feb. 1. Sauk Prairie is now 9-8 overall and 6-4 in the Badger Small Conference. Here’s a recap of the Eagles’ week. • Sauk Prairie 55, Mount Horeb 45 — The game was tied at 32 early in the second half. But the Eagles played lights out down the stretch and pulled away. “I was happy how the ladies responded after we had to take an early (second half) timeout,” Eagles’ coach Jacob Breunig said. “We learned about ourselves that we can compete with teams. Mount Horeb was a tough matchup for us because they rely on a lot of guards, and so our bigger girls did a nice job guarding on the perimeter.” Junior post Mallory Hartwig led Sauk Prairie with 19 points and was a matchup problem for the Vikings all night. Sophomore guard Audrey Brickl added 11 points. “Their two bigs took the ball inside and we couldn’t stop it,” Mount Horeb coach Bart Leibfried said of Sauk Prairie. The Vikings made three of their first four shots and started strong. Mount Horeb then shot just 2-of-25 (8.0%) the rest of the half and trailed, 23-13 at the break. “I was incredibly pleased with our effort in this game,” Breunig said. “We were able to make some shots early in the game and our defensive intensity all night was great. We limited them some after an early run.”  After Mount Horeb’s fast start to the second half, it was all Eagles. “As a team we still are turning the ball over too much and the girls need to learn how to value the basketball and handle pressure when we face it,” Breunig said. “If any team has scouted us they will pressure us, so we need to work harder in practice to make situations more game like for each other so we build that confidence.   “We also need to all be better rebounders. We give up way to many second chance opportunities to our opponents. We talk daily that rebounding is all heart and just wanting it more than the opponent.”   • Stoughton 60, Sauk Prairie 47 —  Senior post Ava Brings had 16 points in a losing effort to the Vikings. “Gracyn was aggressive on the offensive end which really helps us out in the long run and continues to create matchup issues,” Breunig said.  Audrey Brickl and Macee Gulden both added seven points. “I was very proud of the girls for how hard they worked,” Breunig said of his team. “We fought hard to the end, but just did not have enough scoring firepower to keep up.  We had opportunities  to score, but could not capitalize and that is something that has hurt us all season long.  We need to be more consistent scorers around the basket and finish opportunities when they are given to us.” Stoughton (8-2, 11-6) remained in second place in the Badger Small, behind league-leading Madison Edgewood (10-0, 18-1). “Stoughton is a well-balanced team,” Breunig said. “We competed hard, but just did not have enough to finish it.   “They made it tough to guard their guards and a challenge we keep giving all our guards is to be able to guard a girl for her first two dribbles. Not doing so gets us out of position defensively and creates fouls which hurt us as the game goes on.” • On deck: The Eagles hosted Lake Mills Tuesday, then host Portage Friday at 7:15 p.m. and host Dodgeville Saturday at 7:15 p.m.