The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls and Washington Demon boys came away with wins in last night’s rivalry basketball battles. The girls’ game started out as a back-and-forth shootout, with each team hitting four three-point field goals and Mid-Prairie leading Washington 16-15. But the Golden Hawk defense would step up the rest of the way, stretching their advantage to 10 points at halftime. Holding the Demons down in the second half and hitting eight three-pointers as a team earned Mid-Prairie a 55-40 victory and a ninth straight win. Hawks head coach Danny Hershberger told KCII Sports his team got there thanks to a group effort that’s becoming a habit.

“That’s what’s been huge for us these last couple weeks,” Hershberger said,” different girls stepping up and making shots when we needed them to. Whether it’s Maya Nonnenmann the last couple games, who’s been huge for us scoring-wise, or Nora Pennington coming up huge for us a couple of times when we needed it. It’s a huge bonus for us when we have multiple girls on the court score.”

While Golden Hawk senior Landry Pacha would score a game-high 16 points, Nonnenmann hit three triples and poured in 14 points, her third straight game with double-figure scoring. Freshman Adalyn Long and senior Alex Murphy netted 13 points each to lead the Demons, as Washington falls to 7-10 and Mid-Prairie improves to 14-5.

The boys’ game saw the Demons dash out to a 26-point first quarter and never slow down on offense, leading by 22 at the half and going on to defeat the Golden Hawks 75-53. The story of the night was Washington senior Ethan Patterson. One of the program’s all-time leading scorers put together another signature performance, hitting nine three-pointers and scoring a season-high 40 points. But, while Patterson was brilliant, Demons head coach Collin Stark said his team’s hustle and effort shined through once again.

“We’ve talked about how, with this year, there’s times that our shots are falling, [and] there’s times that they’re not.” Stark said. “Tonight, obviously, the shots were falling, and those are the games that it’s easier to play hard defensively. But, even in the games where we aren’t, they’re still working hard and continuing to communicate. That’s honestly never an issue with these guys.”

While Mid-Prairie drops to 10-8, Washington is now 8-7 ahead of facing Fort Madison next on Friday. You can hear the Golden Hawks in action against Tipton tonight starting at 5:30 on 102.5 FM and AM 1380 KCII.