Saturday night the Mid-Prairie boys and girls basketball teams fell to ranked Iowa City Regina squads in both ends of a double header. In the girls contest Mid-Prairie gave the #10 Regals all they wanted losing 48-47. Regina sprinted out of the gates to a 21-12 lead after the first period behind hot three point shooting. The Golden Hawks countered with a 22 point second quarter and trailed just 34-32 going into the half.

In the second half the Mid-Prairie defense clamped down, allowing Regina just four made field goals the entire half. However, the Golden Hawks were unable to put a run together despite the great defense due to turnovers. Mid-Prairie committed 27 turnovers in the game, 17 of those coming in the second half. Following the game Head Coach Stephen Bender talked about the importance of taking care of the basketball in the game.

“We kind of knew their strengths, and what they were, and we tried to take them away, and I thought we did a great job with that. Unfortunately, we just had way too many turnovers in the second half,” Bender said. “If we take care of the basketball, it wouldn’t have been that close of a game, we had 17 turnovers in the second half. To even be in the game with that many turnovers is amazing, and we have to credit our defense with that, because our defense is outstanding.”

The Golden Hawks did take a brief lead at 43-42 with under two minutes to play on a Taylor Kurtz layup. The Golden Hawks had two chances to take the lead with under 30 seconds to play, trailing by one each time but a turnover and a shot at the buzzer gave Regina the win. The Golden Hawks were led by a monster game from Taylor Kurtz. She finished with a career high 26 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks. Alex Rath added 11 for Mid-Prairie who is now 8-7 overall.

In the boys contest #6 Regina came out red hot from the field building a 22-11 lead after the first quarter on their way to a 70-56 win. Drew Cook and Phil Arendt made life tough on the Mid-Prairie defense, combining for 46 points, including Cook’s game high 27. The Regals were able to control the boards and keep the Golden Hawks from making a run. Regina’s lead was as large as 24 in the second half. Following the game Head Coach Chris Kern talked about his teams effort.

“I thought there was some pop in the step tonight, and when you are in a shooting slump, the way you get out of it isn’t shooting, you get out of it by hustle, tough defense, and doing those types of things, and I thought that is what some of our guys did tonight,” Kern said. “That’s the way we have to play every game for the rest of the year.”

Mid-Prairie was led by nine points from Christian Johnson, Dayton Hall and Nathan Faselt each had eight. With the loss Mid-Prairie is now 8-8 overall.