Lauren Abbott and the Erie-Prophetstown girls basketball team had a lot to play for at Princeton on Monday.

The Panthers had not beaten Princeton in quite some time and they were motivated to win one for head coach Chris Brown, who was absent attending to private family matters.

And play they did, outscoring the Tigresses by nine points in the fourth quarter to wrap up a 51-40 Three Rivers East victory.

“I’m not going to lie, the last time we played, they beat us pretty bad (22 points) with only 1 or 2 days to prep for them,” Abbott said. “Honestly, we felt a little bit better coming in to this one. We had nothing to lose. We kind of took a deep breath.

“We were playing for our head coach, who’s not here tonight. It was totally out of sorts. I think we just came in and said, ‘We got this and got nothing to lose.’”

Abbott said Brown watched the stream of the game and texted the girls right away and said “he was very proud of us.”

Princeton led 25-21 at the half and clung to a 30-26 edge midway through the third quarter.

That’s when the Panthers made their move. Abbott hooped twice and Ashlyn Johnson hit a 3-pointer to send the Panthers to a 34-32 lead at quarter’s end.

Payton Brandt hit 1 of 2 free throws and Keighley Davis scored on the break to regain a short-lived 35-34 Princeton lead to start the fourth quarter.

Brynn Brown hit a runner and Aubrey Huisman scored on a steal and layup to put E-P back in front for good at 38-35. Abbott drained a 3-pointer from the left wing, and after drive by Huisman, Abbott scored off the boards to put the Panthers up 45-37 with 2:34 left.

Lauren Punke answered a trey by Davis with a short pop and Abbott and Punke each made two free throws to seal the E-P victory.

Abbott feels that Princeton is a big rival for E-P and it was nice to finally beat them.

“I feel like they’re good in everything they do,” she said. “They’re a great matchup for us when we come over. It’s just super exciting to finally win against them. In basketball we’ve lost to them for so many years.”

Princeton coach Tiffany Gonigam said E-P poses a tough matchup for the Tigresses.

“They are big and physical and those are some of the things we are not,” she said. “We knew that size was a factor. And they shot the ball very well tonight from the outside. That did not happen at Erie. They made two 3s last time and had five tonight. You’re focusing on the post and they kick out and hit five 3s. That hurts.”

The game proved to be a happy homecoming of sorts for acting E-P head coach Nate Jones, who taught and coached at nearby Malden Grade School from the fall of 2016 to the spring of 2024 and still lives just a few blocks from PHS. He coached many of the girls in the Princeton program, including Riley Rauh, Kiyrra Morris and freshman Krishlyn Lanham, who earned her first varsity start.

“To be my first varsity coaching experience at a place I spent so many years is definitely kind of a full circle moment,” Jones said. “I had butterflies all day. There’s a lot of memories here and people in the stands that I care about and were a big part of my life for many years. The girls knew that. They played hard. Probably our best game of the year, honestly.”

Jones was pleased to see his old Malden girls doing so well.

“I always told (the Malden girls) don’t give up on it. Keep fighting. You can contribute at Princeton when you get there,” he said. “Now to be here and see them kind of live their dream, that means a lot to me as a coach as well.”

Abbott finished with a team-high 21 points for E-P (14-10, 5-5) while Brown and Huisman added eight each.

Davis netted a game-high 22 points for Princeton (21-8, 6-4) and Brandt added 11.

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Princeton's Keighley Davis shoots over E-P's Eden Johnson in Tuesday's game at Prouty Gym. The visiting Panthers won 51-40. (Mike Vaughn)