The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys basketball team is making a special trip south today to participate in the first ever 12 Courts of Christmas event in Kansas City.

On the season the Hawks are an unbeaten 6-0 after a 60-55 overtime win at Northeast Goose Lake Tuesday behind 28 points from Carter Harmsen and a career high 19 from Will Cavanagh. Mid-Prairie is scoring 62 points per game and giving up 35 while shooting 48% from the floor, 27% from long range and 60% at the line. They average 33 rebounds, 13 assists, 10 steals and 10 turnovers per game. Individually, they are led by Harmsen’s 18 points and eight rebounds per night. Jack Pennington leads the Hawk guards at five assists and three steals per game.

Raytown South is a member of District 7 this season. The school was established in 1964. The Cardinals are 3-5 this year after a 72-58 loss to Ruskin last time out. Raytown South was 10-14  in 2020-21. They average 49 points per game and give up 55. There is a size discrepancy between the two schools. Raytown South is home to 936 students, Mid-Prairie 252 students. Raytown as a city has a population of 30,000, Wellman, Kalona and West Chester combine for a population of 4,288. The Golden Hawks are a class 2A school in a four class system in Iowa. Raytown South is a Class 5 school in a six class system in Missouri. The Cardinals have recent tradition, finishing as Class 4 State Runners-up in 2018. Mid-Prairie has seven all-time state tournament appearances, the most recent in 2010, finishing as runners-up in 1970 and 2007. Raytown South is not a random opponent. Current Golden Hawk head coach Daren Lambert was on the Cardinals staff for five years in the middle of last decade. This week, Lambert talked about the event, and the opportunity. “Before Mid-Prairie I coached and taught down there, built some great relationships. When I left the head coach said, ‘Hey, when you take over that program, you gotta come back down and play us sometime.’ It’s at Hy-Vee Arena which is formerly Kemper Arena. It’s hosted NCAA Tournament games and Big XII Tournaments. Lot of history in the building. It’s been redone so it now features 12 basketball courts. We’re going down there, we’re going to play a tough opponent and the kids are excited.”

More than 130 teams will participate from five different midwest states. Other teams from Iowa that will make the trip include Ballard, Creston, Des Moines North, Des Moines Hoover and Grand View Christian. You can hear all of the action live today from HyVee Arena in Kansas City, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 12:30 and tip between the Hawks and Cardinals at 1p.m. on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com.