It was a classic Washington County slugfest last night in Washington, as the Demons welcomed Mid-Prairie for a girl/boy basketball doubleheader and the hosts came out with a sweep.
As heard on KCII, the Demon girls mounted a big second half comeback to down the Golden Hawks 45-41 for their first win in the rivalry since 2013. In the first three quarters it was the Maddie Nonnenmann show, as the sophomore collected a game-high 25 points on nine of 12 shooting and was a big reason why the Golden Hawks led 24-18 at the break and 37-26 at the end of three. The lead was as large as 12 when the sophomore left the game with an injury and the Mid-Prairie offense was never the same. Fourth quarter magic has been a trend for the Demons as of late and it continued when an extended 3-2 zone caused some turnovers and easy buckets the other way. Anna Nacos was clutch once again from deep hitting a couple threes and Addison Six took advantage down low that allowed the Demons to take the lead in the final minute and nab their fourth consecutive nail biting victory. Nacos tallied 16 points, Six had 14, and Kinsey Duwa recorded 11 rebounds. Head Coach Shannon Rugg tells KCII Sports the 3-2-zone trap made all the difference. “We went to that trap and were able to create some turnovers. When you have guards like Anna, Halle, and Kinsey out there good things can happen. Halle has long arms, Anna is super quick, and Kinsey is a little bull.” Washington improves to 11-5 and they have a pivotal Southeast Conference game at Fairfield tonight while Mid-Prairie drops to 6-11 and they travel to Wilton this evening.
In the boys game a constant theme was the Demons jumping out to a lead only to have the Golden Hawks answer with a run of their own. Oddly enough, every quarter started with a Washington 7-0 run, but Mid-Prairie weathered the first three storms to find themselves up 43-41 heading to the fourth. The difference was the fourth quarter, when that 7-0 run was never answered and Washington put the game away with a 61-47 victory. Head Coach Collin Stark tells KCII Sports outscoring the Golden Hawks 20-4 in the final quarter is a testament to their defensive intensity. “In the first three quarters our energy level was okay, but it went way up in the fourth and that’s when we started making plays. The biggest story was the defense. If you give up only four points in a quarter you are going to win a lot of ballgames and that’s what we did.” Trevor Quigley paced the Demons with 17 points, Ethan Patterson had 12, and Luke Turner finished with 10. The Golden Hawks had a pair of players in double figures with Jack Baker and Carter Harmsen each having 10 points.
Washington is 12-4 and they try to stay atop of the conference standings on Friday when they host Fort Madison. Mid-Prairie is 3-13 and they look for the season sweep of Wilton tonight.