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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Susan Orvis liked the resiliency and couldn’t fault the defensive effort of her Muscatine girls’ basketball team Saturday night.

After watching Cedar Rapids Prairie explode for 14 unanswered points to start the third quarter and snare a double-digit lead, Muscatine stormed back and had two 3-point attempts in the final 30 seconds to force overtime.

However, both of freshman Leti Lerma’s shots from the top of the circle caromed off the rim as the Muskies suffered a 43-40 defeat to the Hawks in their season opener.

“There are little things we can tweak, mistakes we can fix and situational things we need to address, but the way our kids responded and stuck together is what I’m most pleased with and is quite promising looking forward,” Orvis said after her Muskie head coaching debut.

“If we get that kind of effort when we shore up some other things, hopefully we can get a little bit better result.”

Muscatine, which was 3-19 last season, forced Prairie into 21 turnovers and held Steve Doser’s team without a field goal for more than 11 minutes at one stretch in the opening half.

“Susan’s team did a nice job,” Doser said. “They really got into us and took us out of some things.”

And when the Muskies needed a fourth-quarter surge, they implemented a full-court press that gave the Hawks fits.

“Our defense is what kept us in the game,” point guard Jordan Walgren said. “We all worked together well. All we have to do now is put our offense together and hopefully things will fall into place.”

Lerma scored a game-high 15 points and senior Viola Wagner registered 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Muskies, who shot 32.5 percent for the game.

Turnovers bit the Muskies, who were missing senior guard Julie Wunder. She was attending a church function.

Muscatine had 28 miscues against Prairie’s pressure, resulting in 14 points for the Hawks.

“Personally, (the pressure) really bothered me,” Walgren said. “It’s really tough when they are right next to you like that. We need to work on having poise with the ball when we’re being pressured.”

The Muskies led 12-9 at halftime, but the Hawks forced seven turnovers in the opening four minutes of the third quarter and ran off 14 straight points to take a 23-12 lead.

“We really talked about winning the first three or four minutes, and we didn’t do that,” Orvis said. “That was really the key point of the game.”

Muscatine shaved the deficit to 29-25 on the second of three 3-pointers by Lerma, but Prairie responded with seven consecutive points to seize a 36-25 cushion with 6:18 left in the game.

Once again, Muscatine rallied.

Wagner tallied seven straight points, including a 3-point play with 1:18 remaining, to trim the margin to 40-38.

After Prairie split two foul shots and Lerma made two, Muscatine trailed 41-40 with 46 seconds left. The Hawks answered with a pair of free throws from Megan Galloway.

Lerma tried to tie it with a 3, but it was off the mark. Prairie missed four straight free throws in the final 15 seconds to give Muscatine one last opportunity.

Lerma raced up court and her off-balanced three from 25 feet clanked off the back of the rim. Despite that, Lerma had a solid debut in coming off the bench.

In addition to the 15 points, she pulled down seven rebounds.

“Leti is a tough matchup,” Orvis said. “She’s got good ability and good instincts.

“I’m feeling pretty good right now that she stepped in as a freshman and was willing to take those kind of shots late. She was aggressive.”

Orvis believes Saturday’s close call is a valuable learning experience for her team going forward.

“You need experience in those situations,” she said. “We saw a lot of good things. I really like the push the defense and our press gave late in the game.

“I’m pleased we gave ourselves a chance to win.”

C.R. Prairie 43, Muscatine 40

Muscatine              5 7 13 15 — 40

C.R. Prairie            7  2 22 12 — 43

Muscatine (40) — Jordan Walgren 1-7 0-0 2, Hannah Peck 1-2 1-5 3, Haylie Franklin 0-1 0-0 0, Shelby Lohman 2-4 2-2 6, Viola Wagner 5-12 4-5 14, Leti Lerma 5-16 2-2 15, Katelyn Dew 0-1 0-0 0, Kylie Meyer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-43 9-14 40.

C.R. Prairie (43) — Katie Carver 4-7 1-7 9, Shelby Crist 1-6 0-0 2, Karlee West 4-6 5-10 13, Katie Wieland 1-7 0-0 2, Megan Galloway 4-8 0-1 8, Rachel Peters 2-3 1-2 5, Mariah Reeves 1-5 0-0 2, Kaila Leggat 1-2 0-0 2, Mackenzie Blaha 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-44 7-20 43.

3-point goals — Muscatine 3-12 (Lerma 3-8, Walgren 0-4); Prairie 0-2 (Carver 0-1, Wieland 0-1). Rebounds — Muscatine 31 (Wagner 13, Lerma 7); Prairie 23 (Carver 8). Total fouls — Muscatine 19, Prairie 14. Fouled out — none. Turnovers — Muscatine 28; Prairie 21.

Records — Muscatine 0-1; Prairie 1-0.

Next — Muscatine is at Mount Pleasant on Tuesday.