The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls and boys basketball teams will entertain the Benton Bobcats tonight in the first hoops doubleheader of the season. The Golden Hawk girls are 1-0 on the year after blasting Fairfield in Wellman for their opener a week ago 82-40. The Hawks put four in double figures with Jovi Evans scoring 15, 14 for Callie Huber and 12 each for Nora Pennington and Morgyn Bender. The Hawks forced 40 Trojan turnovers, had 32 steals, 23 assists, and outrebounded their guests by 26 including pulling in 25 offensive boards of their own.
Benton is also 1-0 on the year after a wild 45-44 win over No. 12 Center Point-Urbana last week. The Bobcats escaped the Pointers on an Emma Townsley runner at the horn. Benton is ranked No. 3 in Class 3A in the first poll of the season from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. In their opening win, Benton pulled in 30 boards, dished out eight assists and had seven steals. Townsley was the lone Bobcat in double figures scoring 24. Live on last week’s postgame show, Golden Hawk head coach Danny Hershberger spoke with KCII Sports about the highlights from the team’s win over Fairfield. Hershberger said, “Defensively, we’ve done a great job of forcing turnovers. Forty turnovers is a pretty impressive stat. We’ve also been able to turn that into some offense. That’s been huge for us. Girls have come in and been able to knock down shots. Our younger girls that don’t have that varsity experience have come in, played hard, and made good decisions on offense. Just seeing that growth and improvement from our younger players each time out has been huge also.”
Benton won this matchup a season ago in Van Horne 66-43 behind an 11 point 10 rebound double double from Townsley.
The Mid-Prairie boys open their year tonight with a visit from the Bobcats. The Hawks were 12-11 a season ago, finishing 6-6, fourth in the River Valley Conference South Division. The Hawks will have to replace eight seniors, including their two statistical leaders Camron Pickard and Alex Bean who combined for 29 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals per game a year ago. Bean and Pickard were all-RVC selections last year. The Hawks do return All-River Valley Conference pick Dylan Henry for his senior year. He and Ace Peck both scored six points per game last season. The Hawks have had a busy preseason with a pair of scrimmages, a 57-39 loss to WACO and most recently a 41-37 jamboree win over Eddyville-Blakesburg where Brady Weber scored 11 points and Brock Harland 10. Golden Hawk head coach Daren Lambert joined KCII sports following the scrimmage with the Rockets to talk about what he saw. Lambert said, “We had guys playing aggressive and confident. They played great defense, then saw shots fall through and it started flowing from there. It was a team effort. We responded to the adversity early. It was important to get that lead and maintain it. Overall, it was a push forward. Everyone played a part in the game. Guys coming off the bench, Brock Harland hit a couple of threes, Bryce Henry hit some shots. Ace (Peck), Brady (Weber), Landon (Sullivan), and then (Conner) Wiles, Kurt (Schneider), Landon (Kos) and Beau (Flynn). Everyone took a step forward tonight.
Benton was 7-15 a season ago, 7-8, third in the WAMAC West. They also lost eight seniors to graduation including their top four scorers, led by Noah Franck’s 12 points and top seven on the boards, led by Franck’s six per night. Wyatt Rinderknecht is the leading scorer back at four points per game last year, Owen Tjelmeland has the top totals back with two boards and three assists per night. The Golden Hawks won this matchup a year ago 71-66, rallying from a 13 point hole at the end of the first quarter.
You can hear all of the action tonight between the Golden Hawks and Bobcats live on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Mid-Prairie Basketball Pregame Show at 5:30, tip of the girls game at six with the boys to follow from Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.