A road trip to Tipton Friday turned into a business trip for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams as they took care of the Tipton Tigers in both ends of a River Valley Conference doubleheader heard on KCII. The Golden Hawk girls ran circles around the Tigers in a 76-43 win. Mid-Prairie started on an 8-2 run, then after Tipton climbed within 10-8, the Hawks rattled off 25-in-a-row and took a commanding 44-15 lead into half and never looked back. Mid-Prairie shot 50% from the floor and downtown, pulled in 40 boards, dished out 25 assists, had 17 steals and forced 27 turnovers. One of our Golden Hawks of the game, senior Kylie Reinier joined the postgame show to talk about the win. “We came out really strong in our press and I think that helped us in the long run to get a lead on them. It’s super exciting (during the run), our bench came off and helped a lot tonight. Jovi (Evans) came off tonight and started for us. Then Josie (Greiner) came off firing her threes and it was super helpful for us. Our guards were really looking inside a lot which is good because it was there, it was open. I’m glad that I’m part of a team that is able to do those things.”
Mid-Prairie put four in double figures led by Landry Pacha’s 16 points. Nora Pennington had 15, Josie Greiner 12 and Amara Jones 11. The win moves Mid-Prairie to 7-5 on the year, 4-2 in conference. Tipton is now 5-9
The Golden Hawks avoided the Tiger upset trap in the boys game, surviving 57-52. The contest was tied at 14 after one and Mid-Prairie trailed 29-28 at half, never leading by more than one, and for more than a few seconds, while the Tigers were never on top by more than five. That trend continued into the second half where, the winless in conference Tigers started to think they might break that string, taking a 40-38 lead into the fourth. Down the stretch, despite hot shooting by the Tigers and their own foul trouble, the Hawks made the crucial plays, including going 10 of 10 at the line and pairing together two defensive stops in a row up one with under a minute to go. After the game, one of our Golden Hawks of the game, senior Alex Bean joined the KCII postgame show to break it down. “It’s hard to take a lead when they’re hitting shots but we just stayed patient on the offensive end, kept attacking the rim and dishing down low to Beau (Flynn). We also got some offensive boards and those helped us stay in the ballgame. Effort, outworking them, we needed to come out with a lot of energy and hustle. We did a really good job down the stretch of playing defense, boxing out, and keeping them to one shot. (When I’m at the line) seeing it go through hoop, nothing but net, staying relaxed, taking a deep breath, that’s about it. At the beginning of the year we came out kind of slow, some of the guys didn’t know what toughness was but now, they’re starting to learn to play tough, play defense and give 100% every time.”
Tipton outshot the Hawks 45-36%, but Mid-Prairie was plus 16 on the glass with 15 offensive boards, eight steals and forced 15 Tiger turnovers. Camron Pickard led the Golden Hawks with 13 points, Bean and Beau Flynn each had 10, Cain Brown had nine boards. The win moves Mid-Prairie to 8-4 on the year, 4-2 in the River Valley, Tipton falls to 4-10. The Golden Hawks are back on the floor Tuesday hosting West Branch.