The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams open River Valley Conference play Tuesday night when they travel to Tipton to take on the Tigers.

The Mid-Prairie girls enter the match up ranked No. 10 in the state in class 3A according to the latest poll from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. The Hawks have an 0-1 record after opening the season with a 63-42 loss at No. 15 in class 4A Fairfield on Tuesday. In the game Mid-Prairie was led by Ali Butters with 17 points.

This will be the season opener for the Tigers. Tipton finished last season with an 8-14 overall record. The Tigers return two of their three top scorers from a year ago in Emily Hermsen and Jamie Kofron at nine and seven points per game respectively. They will be without their leading scorer Alex Wiese who transferred to Iowa City Regina for her sophomore season. The Golden Hawks swept the season series with the Tigers last year winning 44-38 in Wellman and 49-45 in Tipton

The Mid-Prairie boys will see their first action of the season in the nightcap of the double dip. Mid-Prairie finished last year with a 1-21 overall record. The second straight year the Hawks finished with just one win. Mid-Prairie is under the direction of first year head coach Daren Lambert. The Golden Hawks saw their first action Friday night in the Hall of Pride scrimmage with IMS falling 72-50. The Golden Hawks return two of their top three leading scorers from a year ago in Caleb Statler and Derek Rich who averaged eight and seven points per game a season ago respectively. Statler was the teams top rebounder at six per game.

Tipton was 13-10 a year ago. The Tigers lost three of their top four scorers from last year’s squad returning just junior Logan Hoffman from that group and his 12 points per game. Hoffman was also Tipton’s top rebounder last season at six per game. The Tigers swept the season series with the Golden Hawks last year, winning 70-40 in Wellman and 79-57 in Tipton. Action begins with the girls varsity game scheduled for 6PM.