The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team hung in for a half against state ranked West Liberty on the road Tuesday before falling 61-26. In a game heard on AM and FM KCII, the Golden Hawks led 6-5 early before West Liberty started a 16-2 run that spanned portions of the first and second quarter to build a 23-10 advantage. Mid-Prairie responded with eight straight to climb within 23-18 and trailed 25-18 at the half. Out of the locker room the Comets assumed control. They held Mid-Prairie without a point for the entire third quarter, 14 straight minutes in total while scoring 26 consecutive points. They would enact a continuous clock with around 90 seconds left in the game. After the contest, Mid-Prairie head coach Danny Hershberger talked about his team’s second quarter run and what the Comets did in the second half to pull away. “We executed what we wanted to do really well during that stretch of the second quarter. Early we played a little timid. We let their defense and pressure get to us. Once we got over that, started being the aggressor ourselves and keeping our eyes up, we were able to find some openings and get easy looks at the basket. They are very athletic. They are aggressive defensively. They have long athletes that anticipate well and overplay the passing lanes. They play smart. Credit them for playing their game and their style and making us pay for it.”

West Liberty outrebounded Mid-Prairie by 15 in the game and forced 31 Golden Hawk turnovers while committing just 10 of their own. The Comets were led by a trio in double figures with Macy Daufeldt and Finley Hall each with 14 points while Sailor Hall had 13. Mid-Prairie was led by Maddie Nonnenmann with 10 points. With the loss, the Golden Hawks are now 4-4 on the year and host Northeast Goose Lake Tuesday night in Wellman.