Photo Courtesy of MP Sports Social Media (Nicole Miller)

From the jump, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team put on a clinic in front of the home fans at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman, winning their opener 82-40 over the visiting Fairfield Trojans. The Golden Hawks built an early 16-10 lead in the first quarter, then embarked on a 23-2 run that spanned most of the rest of the first half, holding a 23-10 advantage at the end of the first, and 48-22 lead at half. Out of the locker room, the crowd was treated to more of the same, the Hawks enacted the running clock late in the third period, on top 67-31 and finished the game by outscoring Fairfield 15-9 in the final period with their reserves.

The numbers leap off the page for the Golden Hawks. They forced 40 Fairfield turnovers. The Hawks outrebounded the Trojans by 26 and grabbed 25 offensive boards. Every player that dressed for the Hawks saw the floor and 10 total players scored, four reached double figures. Jovi Evans had 15 points. Callie Huber went double double with 14 points and a team best 13 rebounds. Nora Pennington added 12 points and Morgyn Bender had 12 off the bench for the Hawks. After the contest, the KCII Golden Hawk of the Game, Pennington, joined the broadcast to talk about what was working for her team. Pennington said, “We practice defense a lot. It’s our game this year. If we keep the energy, we can keep forcing them into turnovers. We just feed off of each other. We do the same with rebounding too. It was awesome to see the younger girls step up and hit some big shots. They’re a really great group of girls who enjoy learning so I think this is going to be a great season. I think we are all going to be able to participate and contribute.”

Senior guard Savannah Hollander tried to keep the Trojans in it with her game high 26 but it wasn’t enough. Fairfield is now 0-1 on the year, Mid-Prairie improves to 1-0 and is off until Tuesday when they host the No. 3 Benton Bobcats. You can hear that game live on KCII next week.