Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie CSD Social Media

The No. 12 in Class 3A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team turned a halftime deficit into a Regional Semifinal playoff win Wednesday at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman over Pella Christian 46-35. The visitors led by a single point 11-10 and 18-17 at the end of the first quarter and halftime. The Hawks outscored the Eagles 29-17 after the break, including a 14-2 run that spanned portions of the third and fourth quarters. On Wednesday’s postgame show, Golden Hawk head coach Jenny Hobbs talked about the keys and standouts in the win. “My gosh! What a scrappy, defensive battle! We totally knew that going in. They only had three people score tonight. We had to rebound. Tessa Bombei was huge. Our defensive effort was next level. We have kids that just want to step up with confidence. On offense, we have spurtability. Luckily, we had that big spurt in the second half when we needed it to pull ahead!”

The Eagles out shot the Hawks 36-32%, winning the glass 36-31, and assists 13-7. The Golden Hawks did it with defense, forcing 33 Eagle turnovers and winning steals 23-5. Jovi Evans went double double for the Hawks with 12 points and 11 rebounds with six assists, Tessa Bombei scored 10 points. Rachel Kacmarynski and Addie Van Arendonk had 16 apiece for PC. The Hawks are now 18-5 on the year and advance to Saturday’s Class 3A Regional Final at No. 1 Mount Vernon, where they get a chance at their first State Tournament bid since 2016. The Eagles end their year at 10-13.