The 2012 portion of the schedule has been a good stretch so far for the PCM girls and boys basketball teams, as both Mustang squads are unbeaten in the new year. They’ll try and keep that going tonight, when they return to their home court to host South Hamilton. The PCM girls were beaten by 15 points in the first meeting between these two Heart of Iowa Conference teams, and head coach Bret Grier says this portion of the schedule is giving his team a chance to be better than they were early in the season.

“We had some really close games – some of them we won, some of them we lost – early on, and we’ve been talking all season about how we just really want to improve each and every practice, each and every game, and really wanted to get our girls to start playing outside their comfort zone,” says Grier. “To see these opponents now, for the second time, will give us that opportunity to turn that loss into a victory.”

The PCM girls basketball team is 9-4 overall and 7-4 in conference play. The Lady Hawks have an identical overall record, but are one win in front of the Mustangs in the Heart of Iowa Conference.

In the boys game, South Hamilton will be a tough out, despite their 3-9 overall record. The Hawks have a number of single-digit losses in recent weeks, and lost to the Mustangs by only eight points when the teams met in Jewell earlier this season. PCM head coach Fred Lorensen says he likes how challenging the conference schedule has been.

“Our schedule is very, very good. Our conference is good this year, and that’s a lot better than going through without being challenged at all,” says Lorensen. “We’ve had a lot of challenges during the season, so far, and we’ll continue to have those in the second half of the season. We certainly hope that’s going to help us prepare for tournament time, and in the long run it should be a really good thing for us.”

The PCM boys have won seven straight games, and are 11-2 overall and 9-1 in the league, following a runaway win at Jefferson-Scranton on Tuesday. Tonight’s games will be streamed live at kniakrls.com, with Colin McDonnell providing the call from Monroe; starting at 5:45 p.m.

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