Saturday held a lot of twists and turns for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team, but they traveled Monticello and brought home a 44-42 win over the Panthers. In a game heard on AM and FM KCII, Mid-Prairie put together a 7-0 run in the first quarter to jump out to a 14-8 lead after the first period. In the second, the Golden Hawks continued to add on, holding a 26-18 advantage at the break. The third quarter continued to see Mid-Prairie in control, growing their lead to as many as 14 before Monticello began their comeback. The Panthers were down 39-30 going to the fourth quarter and would continue to chip away in the final frame. The Monticello defense held Mid-Prairie to just one field goal through the first seven and a half minutes of the final period while the Panthers put up 12 points to tie the game at 42 on a Rebekah Prull jumper with 20 seconds left. In the final series, each team had a possession with a chance to win the game. The Hawks would come up empty once as Monticello forced a turnover, the Panthers would miss a potential game winner with around six second left. The loose ball was run down in the corner by Esther Hughes who moved it ahead to Alyssa McDowell and on to Phelan Hostetler who was standing all alone under the basket with less than two seconds left. Hostetler put the ball in off the window with under a second remaining to win the game. Mid-Prairie head coach Danny Hershberger broke down his teams play and the final sequence. “Alyssa McDowell comes off the bench and she comes up with the huge pass ahead. Then our senior Phelan Hostetler steps up and makes a shot at the buzzer. That was the longest three seconds I can remember for a while. It took a while to get the shot off and it was good for my heart rate to see it up before the buzzer went off. I’m really proud of the girls for not panicking in that situation and getting the job done. With Amara Jones out there, she does so much for us defensively. It’s great to have her back she is our coach on the floor. Alyssa McDowell does a lot of good things for us defensively and is continuing to improve the more time she sees. I’m happy to see her development as she gains confidence. We talked about wanting to be aggressive on offense and use our size to our advantage. Phelan did a great job of that. A lot of teams have been sagging in on her and double and triple teaming, but she continues to stick with it. She’s strong with the ball and had some tough finishes inside. Maddie Nonnenmann shot the ball well tonight. She’s aggressive, she’s looking for her shot. That’s exactly what we needed.”

The Golden Hawks were led by Maddie Nonnenmann’s 19 points. Phelan Hostetler had 13 including the game winner. With the victory, the Hawks are now 4-3 on the season and travel to state ranked West Liberty on Monday.