Sometimes the other team just seems to have all of the answers. Tuesday night in Durant the Wildcats sprung the upset trap on the #5 ranked Mid-Prairie girls basketball team knocking off the Hawks 52-43. Mid-Prairie took their largest lead of the night early at 15-9, Durant answered with back to back threes and the Wildcats didn’t look back. Every time Mid-Prairie would make a charge it was answered by a big jump shot, a steal, free throws whatever it took to hold them at bay. Trailing 37-28 entering the 4th quarter Mid-Prairie would fall behind by as many as 13 before mounting a late charge to cut the lead to five only to be turned away one more time in the final 90 seconds as the Wildcats hit five of their final six at the free throw line. After the game Head Coach Marc Pennington talked about where Mid-Prairie goes from here.

“When we play the South Tama team, we just need to get back to what we do best, with the break downs on our part they had wide open looks that we don’t usually give up,” Pennington said. “But the kids have been resilient all year long, after a loss they tend to bounce back quickly.”

The Hawks were led eight points from Kattie Redlinger and Mallory McArtor. The loss drops Mid-Prairie out of the conference lead and will make it difficult for the Hawks to contend for back to back Cedar Valley Conference titles, a feat which has not been accomplished at Mid-Prairie since 1976. The Hawks are now 12-4 overall and 9-3 in the CVC with North Cedar coming to Wellman Friday night for the Coaches vs Cancer game.