Photo Courtesy of Nicole Miller (MP Sports Social Media)

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team saw their season draw to a close Wednesday in the semifinal round of the Class 3A regional tournament, falling to the No. 10 Vikettes of Vinton-Shellsburg 55-40. In a physical, intense contest, both teams traded punches in the first quarter with the Vikettes on top 11-9 after one. They would build an 11 point lead on a 10-0 run in the second, only to see Mid-Prairie close with seven straight points to climb back within 24-19 at half. Out of the break, the Vikettes held Mid-Prairie without a field goal for a five minute stretch of the third, building their lead as large as 13 before the Hawks chipped away, with eight straight points that included back-to-back Josie Greiner threes to get within three. From there, Vinton-Shellsburg closed the game 17-8 over the final ten minutes to score the win. After the game, Golden Hawk head coach Danny Hershberger talked about what he saw as the difference, his standouts and seniors. “We knew what we were getting ourselves into. The girls handled things extremely well. Early there were a few times where they ripped it away from us and were able to out-physical us. A key for us was to get the fast break offense going in the second quarter, we hit some shots in transition. Our defense did a better job forcing them into some tough shots. In the third quarter Josie (Greiner) steps up and hits some big threes, two-in-a-row to get us back in the game. Amara Jones has done so much for us running the point. She had two or three girls all over her the whole night and did a great job taking care of the ball and hit a couple big shots. Landry Pacha’s great offense and rebounding ability. Really proud of those girls and seniors stepping up.”

Unofficially, the Vikettes won the turnover battle 17-15 and outrebounded Mid-Prairie by six. Alyssa Griffith led the Vikettes with 15 points. Maya Nonnenmann got to double figures to lead the Hawks with 10. Mid-Prairie wraps up their season at 16-7 while Vinton-Shellsburg moves to 16-7 and advances to Saturday’s regional final to meet No. 6 Grinnell. The Hawks say goodbye to six seniors including Landry Pacha, Amara Jones, Josie Greiner, Kylie Reinier, Maya Nonnenmann and Molly Yoder.