PRESCOTT — Addie Prisciandaro scored 10 of her 14 points in the first quarter, Bella Abt added 16 and Prescott built a 28-13 first-half lead they never relinquished in a 54-34 victory over rival Bradshaw Mountain on Thursday night.

It is the seventh win in eight games for the Badgers (12-4, 2-0 4A Grand Canyon), which watched their rival hang around in the second half, outscoring them only 26-21 over the final 16 minutes.

“I think we need to get a little stronger mentally. We have to treat every game like it’s our last game, and we’re not doing that right now,” Prescott coach Jami Johnson said. “Whether that was the rivalry game, or whatever, we have to get stronger mentally.”

Despite Bradshaw Mountain allowing a touch over 32 points per game defensively, Johnson wasn’t pleased with her club’s offensive execution.

“Addie is doing a good job, but we have to execute better. We can get much more out of her, much more out of everyone else. But that’s the thing, we’re not running the floor the way we should be, the way we can, so we have to step that up,” Johnsons said.

Prescott jumped out to a 17-9 lead after the first quarter of play thanks to a steal and layup by Rylee Hobson on an inbounds play with 3.3 seconds left. From that point on, however, the Badgers outscored Bradshaw Mountain 37-25.

Abt pointed to how loud the crowd was during the game, especially in the second half when fans were filing in for the boys game during the black-and-blue rivalry doubleheader.

“Maybe it got us a little jittery at first, but we definitely have a lot to work on to play through [things like that], but overall I’m proud of us. We played with class and came out on top,” Abt said.

The Bears (6-6, 1-1 4A Grand Canyon) came into Thursday night’s affair having lost three of their last four contests, despite starting the season 5-2.

Emma Johnson led Bradshaw Mountain with 13 points, eight of which she scored in the final period.

“We’re getting better every game, that’s the only thing I can ask of these kids. We have to figure out how to score. We defend extremely well … even though they beat us by 20, we held them to 54 points,” Bears coach Brad Clifford said about a club that averages a tick over 60 points per game.

“That’s just a good team. I’m real pleased with what we did and how the kids competed,” Clifford said. “We didn’t quit.”

Clifford is now 0-3 against the rival Badgers since taking over the program in the summer of 2023. The last Bears victory over Prescott came in Prescott Valley on Jan. 26, 2023, 56-45.

UP NEXT

Prescott heads to ALA-Queen Creek on Jan. 13 before facing Grand Canyon region rival Flagstaff (11-5, 2-0) on Jan. 15, then host Mingus (12-2, 2-0) on Jan. 21. Tipoff against both region foes is set for 7 p.m.

Bradshaw Mountain heads to Flagstaff on Friday, Jan. 10, with a 7 p.m. tip.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on X at @AzPreps365Brian or on Facebook at @Five2MediaWorks. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.