Alisa Weiland scored 18 points and led Prairie past Dubuque Wahlert, 54-44, Friday night in Mississippi Valley Conference girls basketball.

Both teams were coming off a winter break and no competitive action for about two weeks, but Prairie capitalized on this first game of 2013 and improved its record to 8-3 overall and 6-2 in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

Courtney McCrary, a huge factor on defense, added 14 points. Cyerra Hutches, riding 89 percent free throw shooting, netted 10 points for Prairie.

“We put some new wrinkles in the offense and added a couple of plays over the break,” Prairie Coach Steve Doser said.

But it may have been a tremendous defensive effort by every Hawk on the floor that really aided in the victory.

Wahlert led much of the first half, helped by the tenacity and scoring of Olivia Smith and center Marissa Cody, who combined for 15 points in the paint.

At the three minute mark of the second quarter, Hutchins pulled Prairie to within 20-18. She had a couple of steals, scored a field goal and added the free throw to put Prairie ahead for the first time at 21-20 at the 2:24 mark of the second quarter.

Smith put Wahlert back on top 22-21 just before half and a goal by Ana Schmidt gave Wahlert the 25-23 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, the lid was on the Golden Eagles and Prairie took over the lead for good. The Hawks led 41-32 at the end of the period.

Prairie played aggressive defense, only fouled 13 times, and kept Wahlert from shooting many free throws with the exception of Logan Lynch who was 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.

“We emphasized what we had been doing in the past and wanted to keep that up defensively,” mentioned Doser.

The Hawks seemed to pick up right where they left off against Linn-Mar in their last game before the break. Weiland bombed home a huge 3-point goal to start the pivotal third quarter and that seemed to turn the tide for Prairie the remainder of the game.

Doser was concerned with two big games coming up next week with Cedar Falls (Tuesday) and Cedar Rapids Washington (Friday).

Wahlert had two players in double figures. Cody scored 13 and Lynch had 11. The Golden Eagles (2-6) face Marion on Saturday night in a non-conference game at Loras College in Dubuque.

“We wanted to take care of the basketball and make smart passes,” Wahlert Coach Kris Spiegler said.

Though many excellent assists were noted, the shooting percentage dropped off in the third quarter and led to the defeat of the Golden Eagles.

DUBUQUE WAHLERT (44):  Ana Schmidt  3  1-2  8,   Logan Lynch  2  6-6  11,  Tori Ochs  1  0-1  2,  Katrina Tranel  0  0-0  0,  Emily Simon  0  0-0  0,  Olivia Smith  4  1-2  9,  Jade Lynch  0  1-2  1,  Marissa Cody  6  1-2  13. Totals 16  10-16  44.

PRAIRIE  (54):  Taylor Moenk  0  0-0  0,  Cyerra Hutchins  1  8-9  10,  Alisa Weiland  7  1-1  18,  Courtney McCrary  6  2-4  14,  Olivia Usher  0  2-2  2,  Madison  Dellamuth  1  4-9  6,  Makenzie Stoffer  2  0-0  4.   Totals  17  17-25  54.

Halftime -  Wahlert  25,  Prairie 23. 3-point goals - Prairie 3 (Weiland 3),  Wahlert  2 (Schmidt, Lynch).