In a pair of games that were never in doubt, the Mid-Prairie boys and girls basketball teams used their brooms in Clarence Friday to sweep the Knights on their home floor. As heard on KCII, the Golden Hawk girls rolled to a 58-16 victory. Mid-Prairie scored the first 33 points of the game, lead 26-0 after the first quarter. The score would stand at 42-3 Hawks at halftime. With the running clock enacted in the second frame, the rest of the contest flew by as Mid-Prairie only extended their lead further, to the final 42 point margin. After the contest Golden Hawk head coach Danny Hershberger talked about what impressed him most. “We’re not the tallest team out there, so when it comes to rebounding that forces us to be really good fundamentally. To hold teams to just one shot and our players have bought into that challenge. The energy on defense tonight was fantastic from the start. Our front line players in the zone and the press, Amara Jones and Nora Pennington did a great job, reading passes, getting deflections and forcing turnovers. They set the tone quickly tonight. Our offensive leaders, Jones and Maddie Nonnenmann, along with the rest of the girls then did a terrific job turning defense into offense.”
The numbers were mind-blowing. Unofficially, the Hawks outrebounded the Knights by 37, had 26 steals and forced 34 total turnovers to just five made field goals allowed. Maddie Nonnenmann led the Golden Hawks with 21 points, Amara Jones had 11 and eight total Hawks got in the score column. Mid-Prairie improves to 3-2, North Cedar is now 0-5.
The boys contest followed the same script with the Hawks claiming a 62-28 win. Mid-Prairie blew it open with a 32-7 first half run to lead 35-11 at the half. Mid-Prairie outscored the Knights 27-17 after the break to finish the win. The Hawks were impressive despite being without two key pieces of their rotation, Will Cavanagh and Shawn Dodds, who did not make the trip due to illness. Mid-Prairie forced 21 turnovers and outrebounded North Cedar by 13. All 15 players who dressed for Mid-Prairie saw time in the second half. Carter Harmsen posted a game high 23 points, Ethan Kos 12 and Alex Bean 10. Mid-Prairie is now 4-0 with the win, North Cedar 0-4 with the loss. The Hawks are off until Thursday when they travel to Cascade for a doubleheader.