Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie CSD Social Media

The No. 12 Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team had their State dreams dashed one win shy of Des Moines, falling in a Class 3A Regional Final at No. 1 Mount Vernon 58-50 Saturday. Mid-Prairie threw the first punch of the night, going on a 9-0 run to take a 9-2 lead. The Mustangs answered 22-5 and would lead 19-14 after one. Mount Vernon would lead by as many as 12 in the second quarter before another 9-0 Golden Hawk run brought them within 28-25 at half. The Mustang lead was a touchdown going to the fourth at 41-34 and Mid-Prairie would use one more run to take the final lead with five minutes to go at 48-47, but the defending state champs closed 11-2, including nine of ten at the line, to put the game away. Following the contest, Golden Hawk head coach Jenny Hobbs spoke live on the KCII Postgame show about how proud she was of the team’s performance, and their seniors. “They bought in and trusted each other. We battled tonight. We plain and simple battled. We have some very disappointed kids in the locker room and I want them to remember this feeling. This is not fun. This should fuel you until we are here again playing to go to State. We have to turn the corner and get that signature win. Tessa (Bombei) was great and we are always going to use that mismatch. She just went to town. She’s a warrior. Jovi (Evans), those three threes that she had, she’s not a three point shooter but, holy cow, she is a kid that loves the moment. Katelyn (Harland), going against these guards, that’s a battle. I thought she did well. Harper (Pacha), I could not be more proud of kids like that!”

The Mustangs won turnovers 19-9 and rebounding by seven. Taylor Franck scored 23 points and Savanna Wright added 13 for Mount Vernon who is 22-2 and back at State for the eighth time in program history with a chance to defend their title. For the Hawks, it was a 16 point night from Tessa Bombei and 13 for Jovi Evans. Mid-Prairie was denied their eighth all-time appearance in Des Moines and wraps up their year at 18-6. The Golden Hawks say good bye to three seniors, Harper Pacha, Katelyn Harland and Jovi Evans.