In a battle for sole possession of second place in the River Valley South Tuesday night in West Branch the No. 5 ranked Bears handed the Mid-Prairie girls basketball team a 69-40 defeat.

West Branch started the game on an 11-1 run and led 32-16 going into the halftime break. The Bears stayed hot in the second half, beginning the third quarter on a 17-0 run to put the game out of reach. The sharpshooting Bears knocked down 11 three point goals on the night.

Mid-Prairie was led in the game by Alex Rath with 10 points. With the loss the Golden Hawks fall to 5-3 overall and 5-2 in the River Valley Conference. Mid-Prairie will next be in action on January 9th when they travel to North Cedar.