by Gunnar Davis

Coming off a makeup game against Nevada the night before, the PCM Mustangs’ basketball teams looked to play against their third conference foe in a matter of five days on Jan. 23 at home against the Tigerhawks. The girls won handily, 53-19, while the boys played in a more competitive game but still pulled out the win, 64-55.
The Mustangs’ good play came from strong defense that transitioned into fast-paced offense. After one quarter, the score was 22-1. The Mustangs coasted through the rest of the game.
At the start of the girls’ game, senior Rachel Freland was eight points away from the astonishing 1,000-point mark, and everyone knew it. The number of points Freland scored? Seven. Freland will look to get her 1,000th point in the Mustangs’ next game on Jan. 27 against CMB.
Sophomore Katie Vande Wall led the Mustangs with 14 points and five rebounds. Senior Courtney Van Houweling also had five boards to go along with her nine points and four assists.
The boys’ game was a bit of a different story. A winless Colfax-Mingo team was hungry for an upset, and they came out attacking the Mustangs. But PCM’s talent was too much for the Tigerhawks, and the Mustangs maintained a ten-point lead throughout the second half.
“We didn’t play real well,” Head Coach Fred Lorensen said. “But I think Colfax-Mingo has gotten a lot better since we saw them the first time. The biggest thing with us is how well we shoot the ball. When we shoot it well, we play pretty well, and when we don’t, it’s a little bit tougher.”
Junior Logan Gilman led the charge again, recording his second double-double in a row with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Trey Lindsay had 12 points and six steals, while senior Ricky Reeve also dumped in 11.
This win against the Tigerhawks was the third win against a conference opponent in the past week, and Lorensen was happy with his team.
“That’s the biggest thing,” Lorensen said. “We wanted to get three wins last week, and we got three wins. We’re still tied for first in the conference. The other thing — it was our last game to determine the seeding for Districts, and this win should make us guaranteed to be a top seed, which is good.”
The next game as of press time for both squads is against North Polk on Friday, Jan. 30, at home, with the girls starting at 6 p.m. and the boys following.