Photo Courtesy of Jeff Yoder
The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams ventured outside the River Valley Conference Monday, hosting Mount Pleasant in doubleheader action. The Golden Hawk girls used a second half comeback to snare their sixth consecutive victory, 61-51. The Panthers stormed out to a 12 point lead and had the Hawks down 15-9 after one. Mid-Prairie found themselves trailing 25-20 going into half. Out of the break, the Golden Hawks cut down on turnovers and found their offensive rhythm, erasing the deficit for good when Amara Jones was fouled shooting a three with under a second left in the third. She hit all three freebies at the line to make it 40-38 Mid-Prairie going to the fourth, and the Hawks slammed the door, winning the final quarter 21-13. Golden Hawk seniors Jones and Landry Pacha joined the KCII postgame show to talk about the win. Pacha said, “It’s important that we stay big and box out when the shot goes up. Fast hands. Once we move the ball around the outside we can get a good look inside. Finishing around the basket has been our main focus.”
Jones added, “We just try to turn our defense into offense. We try to pressure the girls that don’t handle the ball as well. Tonight was the loudest game that we have played in so far and it was great to feed off the crowd and have them feed off our game as well. They wanted to win as much as we did. I feel like we are playing so well as a team. We are trying to get everyone involved, hit our threes, and get the ball inside. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
Mid-Prairie won the turnover battle 23-13, was plus nine on the glass and pulled in 15 offensive rebounds. The Hawks put three in double figures with Pacha and Jones each scoring 15, followed closely by Nora Pennington’s 14 points. The team effort outdid the big solo night for Mount Pleasant’s Andrea Lopreato who finished with 29 points and 16 boards. The Mid-Prairie girls remain unbeaten since Christmas, 6-0 in that span, and 11-5 on the year.
The Class 2A Golden Hawk boys went toe-to-toe with No. 14 in Class 3A Mount Pleasant but came up short 66-59. The first half was played in a nine point window, with the Panthers leading 16-15 after one and 34-33 at intermission. The Golden Hawks edged Mount Pleasant by one to send the game to the final frame, even at 46, but all-Southeast Conference star Payton Hagans exploded with three straight threes to start the fourth, going on a personal 9-2 run that proved to be the difference. Mid-Prairie got within five on a handful of possessions, but could not get back over the hump. Hagans led all scorers with 28 points. The Golden Hawks had nine players score with Alex Bean and Camron Pickard getting to double figures at 18 and 12 points respectively. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 9-6 this year. The Mid-Prairie boys and girls are back in action Tuesday when they host the Durant Wildcats in an RVC doubleheader. You can hear all of the action live on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 5:30, tip of the girls game at six with the boys to follow.