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The Class 3A Regional girls basketball tournament kicks off tonight at home for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks when they welcome the Tipton Tigers to Tim Grady Gymnasium. Mid-Prairie is 13-8 this year, finishing in fourth place in the River Valley Conference with a 12-7 league mark. The Hawks have been off since a 43-28 loss at West Branch February 4th. On the season, Mid-Prairie averages 46 points per game, shooting 36% from the floor, 26% from long range and 54% at the line to go along with 30 rebounds, 12 assists, 12 steals and 14 turnovers. Individual scoring leader for the Golden Hawks is senior Maddie Nonnenmann at 16 per game, third in the south division of the RVC. She is Mid-Prairie’s fifth career 1,000 point scorer. Amara Jones leads the Hawks with five rebounds, four assists and four steals per game.

Tipton is 2-19 on the year and 2-17 in the River Valley, finishing last in the south. The lost to Camanche on Tuesday 46-40. They score just 31 points per game, ninth fewest in 3A with a 28% mark from the floor, eighth lowest in the state. Their 47% free throw percentage is fifth lowest in 3A and their seven assists are 10th fewest. They average 29 turnovers per game, most in the state. Carly Langenberg and Kyra Shaull each score seven per game for the Tigers with Langenberg leading the team at two assists and two steals per night. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Danny Hershberger talked about the keys to a win. “It’s tournament time. It comes down to that focus, that intensity that you need. Our girls have been doing a great job in practice this last week and now we need to carry it over to the game. The two biggest things for us all year has been winning the turnover battle. We want to force them into more turnovers and do a good job taking care of the ball ourselves. We need to force turnovers and turn those into points. We also have to rebound, especially on the defensive end. Can we play defensive and hold them to one shot? Not give them any easy points on put backs. That’s a big key.”

The Golden Hawks swept the Tigers during the season by 57-20 and 48-43 scores. The Hawks have won four straight in the series. The winner of this game advances to Wednesday’s regional semifinal at Mid-Prairie against the winner of West Burlington and Camanche. You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 6:30 and tip at 7p.m. from Wellman.