Add another league championship for the Prairie girls basketball program.
Technically, the Falcons could lose twice and tie for the league title. But let’s face reality: That’s not gonna happen.
The Falcons (13-5 overall) improved to 4-0 in the 3A Greater St. Helens League and beat the second-place team by 48 points Friday night.
With two games left in league play, and a gap that wide, yeah, it’s safe to assume the Falcons have the title locked up for themselves.
Prairie made 13 of 25 3-pointers — eight players made at least one 3-pointer — and had the game in running-clock mode (up 40 in the second half) just a few minutes into the third quarter en route to a 78-30 win over Columbia River.
Lindsay Asplund led Prairie with 14 points, Cherita Daugherty added 13 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, and Jamie Phares did a bit of everything with six points, four steals, and five assists.
Heck, the entire Prairie lineup had something positive in the boxscore.
“It’s clicking a lot more,” Phares said of the team’s play in recent weeks. “We had a team meeting to talk about getting back to how we were playing in California.”
Prairie went 2-1 against quality competition during a holiday tournament in California. But it took the Falcons a few games to really start feeling like themselves again.
Friday night was old-school Prairie: The Falcons led 24-2 after the first quarter. It was 35-2 before Columbia River scored again. The lead grew to as many as 52 points in the third quarter.
“We’ve been going really hard in practice, running a lot, trying to get in the best shape we can,” Asplund said. “Feels good to play together as a team and not play selfish.”
Asplund’s two free throws in the final seconds of the second quarter gave Prairie 50 first-half points.
“We were focused to make sure we came out hard from the start,” Asplund said. “When we’re all in synch with each other, we just get more confident.”
“We’re playing all together and helping each other get open shots,” Phares said.
Grace Prom added 10 points for the Falcons. Deja Gobert made three 3-pointers for her nine points. Natalie Whitesel went 4 for 4 from the floor and had nine points. Prairie got at least one 3-pointer from Asplund, Phares, Daugherty, Whitesel, Prom, Jozie Tangeman, Gobert, and Macey Hsu.
In all, Prairie was 27 of 52 from the floor.
Kate Kraft led Columbia River (13-5, 2-2 GSHL) with eight points.
PRAIRIE 78, COLUMBIA RIVER 30
COLUMBIA RIVER — Amara Moore 1, Kate Kraft 8, Teaghan Cowles 2, Holli Jo Chase 6, Megan Bloom 3, Gabrielle Collins 3, Emma Fisk 5, Ellie Furth 2, Maddy Kessi 0. Totals 10-43 (3-14) 7-22 30.
PRAIRIE — Lindsay Asplund 14, Jamie Phares 6, Emily Peters 2, Cherita Daugherty 13, Natalie Whitesel 9, Grace Prom 10, Jozie Tangeman 6, Kris Rocci 4, Deja Gobert 9, Glory Prom 0, Macey Hsu 5. Totals 27-52 (13-25) 11-16 78.
Columbia River 2 14 4 10—30
Prairie 24 26 21 7—78
JV — Prairie won.
