It’s a road trip for Mid-Prairie basketball Friday when the boys and girls take on West Branch. The Golden Hawk girls are 2-4 this season and in the middle of a tough stretch, dropping a five point game to No. 15 West Liberty Tuesday in Wellman and a one point setback Thursday against No. 8 Iowa City Regina last time out. Nora Pennington led the Hawks against the Regals with a season high 14 points. On the year, Mid-Prairie is scoring 53 per game and giving up 50, shooting 33% from the floor, 31% from long range and 59% at the line with 32 boards, nine assists, nine steals and 13 turnovers per game. Individual leaders feature Amara Jones with 13 points, six assists and four steals per game. Landry Pacha is best on the boards with six a night.
West Branch stands at 0-2 this year with losses to Monticello 60-50 and Dyersville Beckman 45-18. They are averaging 34 points per game and giving up 53, shooting 36% from the floor, 37% from three and 65% at the line with 22 boards, six assists, eight steals and 21 turnovers per night. Top Bears include Kylie Pickett with eight points and an assist per game. Sadie Smith average five boards per night and Iva Senio three steals per game. West Branch has won 10 in a row over Mid-Prairie with the Hawks last win coming in 2017 56-49. The Bears took both contests 43-28 and 54-47 a year ago.
The Golden Hawk boys are unbeaten at 3-0 on the young season after crushing the West Liberty Comets Tuesday, 71-41, with Camron Pickard posting 20 points. On the year, the Golden Hawks are scoring 68 points per game and giving up 49, shooting 39% from the field, 28% from three and 65% at the line with 41 boards, 16 assists, eight steals and nine turnovers per night. Individually, Alex Bean has a team best 15 points per game. He and Shawn Dodds lead with six boards per night. Pickard has a team best five assists per game and Brady Weber has two steals per night.
West Branch is 0-3 this year with losses to Solon, Monticello and Dyersville-Beckman. The Bears lost to the Spartans 75-61 Saturday with Holden Arnaman scoring 17. The Bears are at 52 points per game and giving up 67, shooting 46% from the floor, 29% from three and 56% at the line with 24 boards, 10 assists, five steals and 15 turnovers. Arnaman scores 18 per game with five assists. Reese Trepanier has nine boards and two steals per night. West Branch has won 19 of the last 29 in the series, but the Hawks swept both games last year by 51-46 and 75-54 finals. You can hear all of the action live tonight between the Hawks and the Bears on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 5:30, tip of the girls game at six with the boys to follow from West Branch High School.