The Mid-Prairie boys and girls basketball teams swept a River Valley Conference doubleheader Friday night at Durant. In the girl’s game Mid-Prairie used stifling defense to slow down the Wildcat’s leading scorers en route to a 45-33 win. The Golden Hawks allowed Janey Botkins and Shannon Telsrow just two combined field goals in the entire first half while Mid-Prairie star Taylor Kurtz posted 13 on her own. The Golden Hawks led 28-17 at the break and would stretch that lead to as many as 18 in the second half. Durant pulled within nine in the final minutes as the Golden Hawks committed some timely turnovers and missed three consecutive front end free throws of a 1-1 attempt, but Mid-Prairie’s defensive intensity continued to keep the Wildcats at bay.

In the win Mid-Prairie was led by another Taylor Kurtz double double, 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Golden Hawks saw 10 players score in the game. The Mid-Prairie girls are now 3-4 overall and 3-2 in the River Valley Conference.

In the nightcap Mid-Prairie again used defense to control the first half, while hot shooting controlled the second on the way to a 60-44 boys win. Durant wanted to play a slow down game and the Golden Hawks rolled with it in the first half, routinely playing half court defense for more than 45 seconds per possession. The Golden Hawks picked some opportune times to push the tempo for some easy baskets and led 23-9 going to halftime. Out of the break Durant abandoned their slow down style and the Hawks beat them there too, behind hot three point shooting from Spencer Shalla, Dayton Hall and Nick Stimson who went a combined five for seven behind the arc. After the game Head Coach Chris Kern talked about his team’s jump shooting.

“I think that Dayton and Nick were near as good tonight as they can be,” Kern said. “Spencer Shalla is starting to come up and he is a three point threat every now and then, and between all of that you have Nathan Faselt; I like out weapons. Then inside you’ve got Christian Johnson who keeps performing, Nathan Faselt is performing, Riley Sieren, so it’s a good combination.”

In the win the Golden Hawks were led by Stimson’s 14 points, Shalla added 10. 10 total Golden Hawks scored in the game. With the win Mid-Prairie is now 4-2 overall and 4-1 in the River Valley Conference. Mid-Prairie will next be in action tonight when they host cross division rival Bellevue. The girls game will tip at 3:30 with the boys game to follow. You can hear all of the action live on KCIIradio.com with pregame at 3PM. The games will be delayed broadcast following this evening’s Washington game.