Cissna Park came into Monday’s road clash with Manteno allowed an average of just 26 points per game.

Matching up with a Manteno team that entered Monday ranked 10th in Class 2A and was scoring an average of just under 51 points per game, the Timberwolves, ranked sixth in 1A, faced one of their biggest tests of the season.

The Cissna Park (16-2) defense may not have held the host Panthers (19-3) to that low season average, but did more than enough to pick up a 48-38 win, limiting the Panthers to their second-lowest scoring total of the season and forcing 22 turnovers.

Senior guard Addison Lucht scored a game-high 18 points to go with five steals and three assists. She said being able to put forth a strong defensive effort is something she and her teammates enjoy.

“That’s honestly what we pride ourselves in,” she said. “Our starting five is really long and we’re really athletic. Our length is really able to bother people, and I think that’s why we were able to be successful on the defensive end. And then our defense can lead to offense.”

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Manteno's Emily Horath, center, looks to pass after beating Cissna Park's Ava Henrichs, left, and Addison Lucht to a loose ball during a game at Manteno Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Mason Schweizer)

A pair of Lucht’s steals did lead to breakaway layups, but consistent transition offense, and consistent offense in general, was a bit tough to come by for the Timberwolves.

But even if they don’t lead directly to baskets, turnovers certainly helped the Timberwolves keep Manteno at bay.

“We didn’t get the deflections that we normally get, so give Manteno credit on that,” head coach Anthony Videka said. “But we were forcing some hard passes that were leading to turnovers. We’d prefer them to be live-ball turnovers, but we’ll take dead-ball turnovers and run offense too.”

While the offense was touch and go at times, everything came together for the Timberwolves during a stretch where they closed the second quarter on a 5-0 run and opened the third on an 8-0 run.

This came after Manteno had gone on a bit of a run to cut the Cissna Park lead to 21-19 late in the second quarter.

Senior Sophie Duis scored the final basket of that run, giving the Timberwolves a 34-19 lead and forcing a Manteno timeout just 90 seconds into the third quarter.

“Sports has a lot to do with momentum,” Duis said. “I think getting that run really gave us a little momentum and maybe a little more confidence, as we came into this game maybe not playing our cleanest.”

Lucht added that, despite the team’s feeling that they left some chances on the floor Monday, and any experience against tough opponents is valuable experience for a Cissna Park team looking to follow up a third-place finish at state last season with another strong finish this year.

“Honestly after the game, we were a little disappointed in ourselves,” she said. “But coming out here on their home floor, beating a good 2A team, it’s only going to help us for the postseason.”

Lauryn Hamrick finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Timberwolves. Duis had six points and three steals while Josie Neukomm added five points, four rebounds and three steals.

Manteno was led by Emily Horath with 13 points. She also had six rebounds and a team-high four steals.

Lila Prindeville had 10 points, all in the first half, while Maddie Gesky scored eight points, all in the second half, to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Alyssa Singleton had five points, three assists and two steals.

For the Panthers, Monday’s game was a good test for a team about to head down the home stretch in Illinois Central Eight Conference play, where they have an 8-0 record, and then head into the playoffs looking for its second regional title in three years.

“This is the first time in a while we’ve had more than 20 turnovers, so some of our execution wasn’t great,” she said. “It was a fun game, and I was looking forward to this. I knew it was going to be a challenge for us, and it’s something we needed in order to keep preparing for what we want in the postseason.”