The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams swept away the Wilton Beavers on a River Valley Road trip Tuesday. The No. 13 in Class 3A Golden Hawk girls tripled up the Beavers in a 72-24 win. Mid-Prairie won the first quarter 13-6 and were up 28-13 at half, despite the entire half being played with a men’s ball instead of a women’s sized ball. Once the equipment issue was sorted out, Mid-Prairie took off. The Hawks rolled in the second half, putting together a pair of 16-2 runs, outscoring Wilton 44-9 in total after intermission. Following the contest, Golden Hawk of the game junior Brooklyn Schneider joined the KCII Postgame Show to talk about the win. “A lot (of my looks) came from the wing and we did a good job of getting the ball in and kicking it back out. It was really fun. We went into halftime and tried to get some fire in us and it seemed like we kicked it off in the third quarter. (On defense) we definitely helped a lot more and got more steals. We have a lot of quick girls so, they can get to a lot of loose balls. We also did a good job breaking up their offense. It’s a really good confidence booster to know that anyone you give the ball to on our team can score and it’s really fun to play with this many athletes!”

Mid-Prairie won rebounds 37-18 and turnovers 33-18, with 29 steals and 20 assists, while going 16 of 20 at the free throw line. The Hawks had four score in double figures, led by Schneider’s 18 points and three made threes. Morgyn Bender added 17, Jeorgia Evans 11 with eight steals and Tessa Bombei with 10. The Golden Hawks are now 4-1 on the year and 2-0 in conference. Wilton is 0-5 overall.

The Golden Hawk boys needed a fourth quarter comeback, but turned in a 60-56 win to stay unbeaten on the season. Mid-Prairie led 17-15 after one and 31-25 at halftime on the strength of an 11-2 run early. Wilton made their move in the third, pouring in 11 straight in the midst of a 15-2 run in total to go on top 44-41 going to the fourth. The Hawks finished strong, including a 16-7 run late to grind out the win. Following the contest, one of the Golden Hawks of the Game, senior Hudson Ehrenfelt joined the KCII Postgame Show to talk about how the Hawks got the job done. “Last time we were here (for football) we got the ‘W’. This time, we came back got the ‘W’ again, it feels great. We really had to get after it on the boards and not let them have any second chance opportunities. That was the plan for the game. We were able to shut them down rebounding. This win shows who we are as a team. It’s not who can score the most points. Tonight it was about the defensive-side, who is going to get the rebounds, who is going to do the hard work that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.”

Each team committed 14 turnovers and the Beavers used their size advantage to win the glass by eight. Mid-Prairie was led by a monster 27 point, 16 rebound double double from Bryce Henry that included six threes, including three in crunch time in the fourth quarter. Brooks Weber scored 13. The Golden Hawks are now 4-0 on the year and 2-0 in conference as the Beavers drop to 1-4 and winless in the league.