The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams return home tonight to take on the Wilton Beavers in both ends of a River Valley Conference doubleheader. The Golden Hawk girls are 4-0 this year with wins over Benton, Fairfield, Camanche and West Branch. Friday against the Bears the Hawks rolled on the road 55-23 on Callie Huber’s 14 point, eight rebound night. This season, the Hawks score 62 per night and give up 34, shooting 37% from the floor, 21% from three and 65% at the line with 43 boards, 24 steals, 17 assists, and 20 turnovers per game. Individually, Huber puts up 12 points and nine boards per night. Jeorgia Evans has five steals and Izzy Kite and Katelyn Harland three assists each.
Wilton is winless in five tries after an 84-28 loss to Regina last time out where Jessie Mach scored 12. On the year, the Beavers average 28 points and give up 68 per game, shooting 25% from the floor, 15% from three and 37% at the line with 18 boards, seven steals, five assists and 28 turnovers per game. Kinsey Drake is the leader at eight points, three steals and two assists per night, Abren Bazal has five boards. At West Branch Friday, Golden Hawk head coach Danny Hershberger joined the postgame show live and talked about his team’s recent play.
Hershberger said, “I thought our defensive effort has been great. Our press has been able to force turnovers. In the half court we have been making it tough for the other team to get open shots. Rebounding has also been good. Inside (Callie Huber and Brylee Gearthart), their our seniors, our leaders and they’ve stepped up. When we’ve needed a basket they’ve been able to finish for us and that’s huge. Izzy Kite on the point has done a great job taking care of the basketball. She’s also hit shots for us when she’s had the opportunity. Brooklyn Schneider has played solid defensively and hit a couple shots as well. Tessa Bombei causes so many problems for other team with her defense and how active she is.”
These two teams have split their last 10 meetings overall and each won on their home floor in their games a season ago.
The Golden Hawk boys are also unbeaten at 4-0 with wins over West Branch, Pekin, Camanche and Benton. Against the Bears Friday, it was a 63-46 road win, keyed by 25 points for the second straight game from Bryce Henry and 10 from Brady Weber. This year the Hawks score 72 per game and give up 44, shooting 46% from the floor, 38% from three and 73% at the line with 33 rebounds, 16 assists, 10 steals and 12 turnovers per game. Individually, Henry’s 21 points are best, as are Brady Weber’s five assists and three steals and Conner Wiles six rebounds per game.
Wilton is winless through five tries after a 74-47 loss to Regina where Oaklan Jirak had 17 points and Kale Caffery 12. On the year, the Beavers score 49 per game and give up 77, shooting 39% overall, 26% from three and 46% at the line with 36 rebounds, 10 assists, seven steals and 22 turnovers per game. Individually, Jirak’s 16 points lead, as do Caffery’s seven rebounds, Gunner Edwards two steals and Oliver Grings two assists. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Daren Lambert talked about the keys to his team’s strong start to the season.
Lambert said, “Winning is contagious. It gets you to believe in what you’re doing. We’re short-handed with a couple guys out right now and we’re still getting the job done. We have guys stepping up, and it’s giving them confidence, so that when they come back, we add more to the crew. Defend, rebound and run, and we’re doing that. No matter how much scoring can come and go, defense has always got to be there. These guys have bought in. We have great rotations right now. Offense usually follows if you play great defense and we’ve shown that the first four games.”
The Hawks have won 13 of the last 17 in the series, but the Beavers have won the last four, including a sweep a season ago. You can hear all of the action between the Golden Hawks and Beavers live on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Golden Hawk Basketball Pregame Show at 5:30p.m. Unc N Nephs Food & Brew tip of the girls game at 6p.m. With the boys to follow Tuesday from Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.