by Logan Gilman

Coming off a surprising conference loss to Gilbert on Jan. 10, the PCM Mustang girls’ varsity basketball team were ready for their next opponent, the Greene County Rams, on Jan. 14 at Greene County Middle School.
The Mustangs’ high-power offense was limited to just 39 points against Gilbert but went off on Greene County. The Mustangs won with a final score of 67-31.
The PCM girls started off hot, and the score was pushed out to 18-6 after the first quarter. The Mustangs would continue to build their lead throughout the following quarter, taking a 43-13 lead into halftime. The Mustangs came out of halftime and put it in cruise control to finish the game with a 36-point victory.
Head Coach Bret Grier said of the Mustangs’ performance, “We did a few things well. I thought we did a nice job of finding the open teammate. Everyone was getting involved in the offense, and that makes the game a lot more fun when we are getting open looks. We also did a much better job of not turning the ball over.”
Senior Rachel Freland led the Mustangs in scoring, finishing with 19, while sophomore Katie Vande Wall chipped in 15. Vande Wall was also two rebounds short of a double-double, as she had eight rebounds on the night, as well.
Grier also said, “Teams have been trying to keep the ball out of Courtney Van Houweling’s hands on offense early, as she has always been the person who initiates our offense. So we need to become more confident as a team at initiating the offense if they aren’t going to allow Courtney to do that for us.”