Photo Courtesy of Nicole Miller (MP Sports Social Media)

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team hits the road for Class 3A regional play Wednesday when they travel to Vinton to meet the Vinton-Shellsburg Vikettes. The Hawks are 16-6 on the year after an opening round win Saturday over Prairie City Monroe 67-49 where they were led by Kylie Reinier’s career high 14 points, a 12 point, 10 rebound double double from Landry Pacha and 10 points from Amara Jones. On the year, Mid-Prairie scores 55 points per game and gives up 43, shooting 39% from the floor, 10th in 3A, 29% from three, and 62% at the line 10th in 3A with 36 rebounds, 13 assists, 13 steals eighth in 3A and 16 turnovers. Individually, Pacha has a team best 11 points and eight boards per game, Jones leads with five assists and four steals per night, both top eight in Iowa.

Vinton-Shellsburg is 15-7 this year after a 67-22 win over South Tama to open the tournament Saturday. The Vikettes are ranked No. 10 in Class 3A in the latest poll issued by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. They were 9-5 fourth in the WAMAC West during the regular season. This year they score 59 points per game and give up 44, shooting 36% from the floor, 28% from three, and 68% at the line, third in 3A to go with 29 boards, 12 assists, 11 steals and 13 turnovers. Individual leaders include Alyssa Griffith with 12 points per game. Brylee Bruce has seven boards per night and Abby Davis three assists and two steals. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Danny Hershberger talked about preparing his team for Wednesday. “Keep moving on, each opponent is going to get tougher. Vinton is going to be a challenge. They have some height. They have some good post players and a couple guards that can shoot. They are going to be physical. There’s a reason they are the two seed in the region. We just have to continue to do what we do. Use our quickness to our advantage and use our experience. The biggest thing is to match their intensity and physicality and I think we have done a good job doing that at times when we have needed to. I’m excited for the challenge they present.”

These two schools have never met in girls basketball. The winner of this game moves to the regional finals Saturday, one game away from the state tournament in Des Moines to meet the winner of No. 6 Grinnell and Chariton. You can hear all of the action live tonight between the Hawks and Vikettes from Vinton-Shellsburg High School on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 6:30p.m. and tip at 7.