The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams entertained the Wilton Beavers in a River Valley Conference doubleheader Tuesday. The Mid-Prairie girls jumped out to an early lead and held off the visitors in a 48-39 win. The Golden Hawk defense was terrific, putting the Beavers through two different four plus minute droughts, allowing only one field goal through the games first 12 minutes, and forcing 18 Wilton turnovers in the first half, helping the Hawks to a 25-12 lead at break. Out of the intermission, Mid-Prairie moved the lead to 15 before Wilton exploded for 16 in a row to take a brief lead at 29-28. The Hawks responded to the Beaver outburst with seven straight and  led 34-29 going to the fourth, keeping Wilton at arms length down the stretch to finish the win. After the game, Golden Hawk head coach Danny Hershberger talked about his team’s defensive effort and individual standouts. “Our defensive effort to start the game was fantastic. We felt like we could pressure them into some turnovers. It’s huge for us to be strong with the ball and we did a good job taking care of it in the first half. When you take care of rebounding, you get extra opportunities on the offensive end and only give them one opportunity on their end it’s a huge advantage for us. Josie (Greiner) was huge for us tonight. She came into the game in the first quarter when we’re struggling to hit shots and hits two threes and two more in the second half. Landry (Pacha) is just a rock for us. She’s a competitor. She did a great job tonight battling against bigger players. Amara (Jones) and Nora (Pennington) set the tone for our defense, they get out, they pressure, they get in passing lanes, they get steals and turn it into offense.”

Josie Greiner led the Golden Hawk attack with 12 points off the bench on four three point goals. Landry Pacha also got to double figures with 11. Mid-Prairie had 34 rebounds and 16 steals while withstanding 19 turnovers of their own. The win moves the Hawks back to .500 at 4-4 overall and 2-2 in league play.

The Mid-Prairie boys ran into a buzz saw in No. 4 Wilton, dropping their matchup with the Beavers 67-49. Mid-Prairie grabbed an early lead on first quarter threes from Alex Bean and Dylan Henry, but the Beavers led 14-9 after one and 29-17 at half behind 19 first half points from Caden Kirkman. The Hawks got within 10 in the third before Aidan Walker caught fire for Wilton, putting up 13 in the frame to hold off a Mid-Prairie run. Dylan Henry heated up for the Hawks, putting up 12 of his 15 points after the break but it wasn’t enough for the Hawks to get back into the game as the Beavers stretched their lead as large as 25 in the fourth. It was a tough night for the Mid-Prairie offense, shooting 28% from the floor and 26% from three with 17 turnovers. Kirkman’s 28 points made him the high man for either side, Walker also scored 17. Alex Bean had a double double for the Hawks with 12 points and 11 boards, Henry had nine boards to go with his 15 points. With the loss, Mid-Prairie is now 3-2 overall and 2-2 in the RVC. Wilton remains unbeaten at 4-0. The Golden Hawk boys will next be in action Thursday when they host Pekin, you can hear that game live on AM and FM KCII.