The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team saw their season come to an end Saturday in the regional quarterfinal round of the class 3A playoffs in Donnellson at the hands of Central Lee 49-41. In a game heard on AM and FM KCII, defenses controlled the action through the first half. Mid-Prairie used an 8-0 run in the first quarter to build a 10-4 lead at the end of the frame and they held a slim 17-15 advantage at the half.

Halftime adjustments paid off for Central Lee as they got Mya Merschman, the state’s leading scorer at 29 points per game, on track. After scoring just three points in the first half, she finished with 20 and Central Lee took over the lead in the third quarter, going up 27-26 going to the fourth. In the final period, Central Lee won the frame 22-15 to pull away and take the victory. After the game, Mid-Prairie head coach Danny Hershberger talked about his team’s night. “That’s what we wanted to do defensively, just be very aggressive, get hands up, pressure them, force turnovers. We had to do a great job of talking and knowing where Merschman was and making it difficult for her when she got the ball. I thought we did a great job. We also rebounded well, only giving up one shot to them. Our mental toughness was fantastic. We dealt with some foul trouble so some girls came in off the bench in some tough spots and played well. We have two seniors, Phelan Hostetler and Myah Lugar, they were very important to our program and I told them I’m super proud to be their coach. They are great people and leaders.”

Mid-Prairie was outrebounded by three, and hurt by 28 turnovers to just 13 for Central Lee. To go along with Merschman’s 20 points, Alivia Myhre ended with 13. Mid-Prairie was led by Ester Hughes with 12 points and Phelan Hostetler with 10. With the loss, the Golden Hawks end the season at 10-12 and say goodbye to seniors Myah Lugar and Phelan Hostetler.