The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams took care of business in a home Monday night non-conference doubleheader, sweeping away the Mount Pleasant Panthers. The Golden Hawk girls were a 66-30 winner. The Hawks put together an 18-2 run to start the game and added a 12-0 run in the second quarter to lead 41-15 at half. Mid-Prairie enacted the running clock in the third quarter and outscored Mount Pleasant 25-15 after break to finish the win. Mid-Prairie won turnovers 20-8, rebounding 37-19, had 15 team assists, 13 blocked shots, 10 steals and knocked down eight threes. A trio of Golden Hawks got to double figures, led by Izzy Kite with a season high 17 points on five made threes. Tessa Bombei added 11 points and three assists, Morgyn Bender scored 10. Kite, the Golden Hawk of the Game joined the KCII postgame show to talk about the win.

Kite said, “I think our defense has been really intense so it’s given us easier opportunities to get shots off on offense. My teammates always do a great job of finding me, so it makes it a lot easier. Now that teams know my range, it has to get deeper every game. It feels great to see my other teammates hit threes also and see their confidence grow. In practice, we have been really working on bringing the intensity up a notch on defense, make sure we’re pressuring, that we’re always in help and communicating a lot. We’re getting close to postseason and now that we’re coming together and focusing up, it shows how intense we are and ready.”

Abby Carthey and Abby Shelangoski had nine each to lead Mt. Pleasant. Mid-Prairie is now 12-3 on the year as the Panthers drop to 3-11.

In the nightcap, the Golden Hawk boys used a big mid-game run to pull away for the 68-54 win. The Hawks trailed 14-11 after one, but used a 26-4 run that spanned portions of the second and third quarter to grab a 31-26 halftime lead, and ultimately stretch the advantage to 20 in the second half, before cruising to the victory. Mid-Prairie won the turnover battle 21-6 and the boards by four. Three Golden Hawks reached double figures, led by Brady Weber’s 18 point, seven assist, six steal and four rebound night. Bryce Henry had 15 points with five boards and Ace Peck scored a dozen. Weber, the Golden Hawk of the Game, joined the KCII postgame show to talk about the night.

Weber said, “Coming out of halftime, winning the first two or three minutes is big. That really set the tone for the rest of the game. We shot the ball well (in that stretch), we got to the rim. We had some guys step up and make plays on defense. When our posts do such a good job of getting their posts to turn and put the ball on the ground, that’s when the guards have to come in and help clean things up. We did a great job of driving gaps and kicking the ball to open shooters. We struggled hitting shots at times during this game but, we know we’re great shooters. We have so many guys that can knock down threes. We just have to keep shooting and keep confidence.”

Mount Pleasant got 20 points from Ryan Helling to lead. Mid-Prairie is now 13-2 on the year as the Panthers drop to 1-12.