The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams make the trip to Williamsburg Tuesday for the first doubleheader of the season when they meet the Raiders. The Golden Hawk girls come into the game at 1-0 on the year after a 40-36 win over Durant in Wellman last week to open the season. The Hawks were led by Myah Lugar and Maddie Nonnenmann, each with 10 points. Nonnenmann completed the double double with 11 boards while Lugar and Esther Hughes each dished out four assists. After the win over the Wildcats last week, Mid-Prairie head coach Danny Hershberger talked about what he saw. “Their pressure started getting to us and it felt like we rushed our offense a little bit. Overall I thought once we settled in defensively we did a really good job of recognizing their shooters. Our defense kept us in the game. Myah Lugar did a great job coming out early and knocking shots down. Her shot wasn’t falling in the second half but she stayed in the game and did other things to help us get the win. Maddie Nonnenmann didn’t have the first half that she wanted. She missed some shots that she expects to make. She came back in the second half and the longer the game went on the better she played. Phelan Hostetler controlled the lane with her blocked shots. That’s such a huge advantage for us. Esther Hughes is that spark plug that every team needs. She’s going to hustle everywhere and get on the floor.”
Williamsburg also opened the season last week, dropping a shoot out at Marion 81-68. Charlotte Wetjen lit up the Lady Indians for 29 points to lead the Raider attack. Teagan Schaefer added 13 and Lauren Pope 10 points. Kendra Eichhorn led the Raiders on the glass with nine boards and Taylor Winegarden had three assists. Williamsburg took the contest with the Hawks last year 48-47. It was the Raiders first win in the series since 2011.
The Mid-Prairie boys open the year tonight at Williamsburg. The Golden Hawks were 8-14 a season ago, 7-11 in the River Valley Conference. Mid-Prairie has won a pair of scrimmages to get ready for this season, dispatching Mediapolis in a Hall of Pride game 65-25, led by an Ethan Kos double double of 14 points and 10 rebounds. Alex Bean also had 14 in the win. At their jamboree last week, the Hawks beat Pekin in a half 44-28 behind Carter Harmsen’s 14 points. Ethan Kos had 11 for Mid-Prairie against the Panthers. A year ago, Harmsen led Mid-Prairie scoring 12 per game as a sophomore. Aidan Rath is back after leading Mid-Prairie with six boards a game last year.
Williamsburg was 16-7 last year, 13-6 in the WAMAC West. The Raiders have to replace their top two scores in Kaden Wetjen and Draven Williams who combined for 26 points a game last year and have graduated. Levi Weldon is the leading returner for points at seven a game last year. Weldon is also the leader back on the glass, fourth on the team last year with three and a half boards a game. Jake Weber will run the point for the Raiders after averaging two assists per game as a sophomore last season. Mid-Prairie head coach Daren Lambert spoke this week about keys to success this season for the Hawks. “We want to sustain the defensive intensity we had the in the scrimmages, especially against Mediapolis. We want to continue the progress and not take any steps backward. Transition defense will be important, we are going to face a lot of athletic teams this season. Offensively, we need to continue our evolution and get more legs underneath of us. We have put up points so far in our scrimmages, guys have been hitting shots. We’ve gained some confidence. Our work this season early has been on tightening those things up and adding some more set plays into the system. We need to continue to communicate and add to our confidence.”
Williamsburg won this game last year 59-41. You can hear all of the action live tonight from Williamsburg High School, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 5:30, tip of the girls game at six with the boys to follow on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com.