It was a tough road trip for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls and boys basketball teams Friday, as they fell in both ends of an RVC South doubleheader to the Wilton Beavers by finals of 67-62 in the girls game, and 85-82 in the boys game.

The girls went first on the docket, and even though the home Beavers came into the night averaging nearly 30 points fewer per-game than Mid-Prairie, they proved they wanted to hang around and cause the upset early. The Hawks led after one period by two, and stretched their lead to eight by halftime thanks to Callie Huber and Morgyn Bender’s 18 combined first half points. Wilton began to tighten the action in the third frame, outscoring the Hawks by seven going into the final eight minutes. Everything was still on the line, and it was the home Wilton crowd that acted as the sixth man for the Beavers to push them over the finish line to get the upset victory by five.

Unofficially, Wilton outrebounded Mid-Prairie, but lost turnovers by 10. Huber was the leading Hawk with 14, followed closely by Brooklyn Schneider’s 12 and Bender’s 10. The Beavers were led by a game-high 18 points from Ashley Swift.

Wilton proved they showed up for the nightly sweep early on in the boys game, leading 22-20 after the first quarter before Mid-Prairie pulled away in the second to lead it 24-16 at halftime. The stars were also putting on a show early, with the top-two scorers in the River Valley Conference South Division trading blow-for-blow in the first half between Wilton’s Bryer Putman and Mid-Prairie’s Bryce Henry. Both had 15 at half. The game started to come to the Hawks in the third, cashing in defensive stops for points on the offensive end to generate a 12-2 run to lead by 14 midway through the period. However, Wilton did not go quietly into the night, with threes raining down from Quincy Sawvell and strong post play by Kale Caffery to erase the deficit down the stretch. The contest was tight through the final buzzer, and it was again the home atmosphere that pushed the Beavers over the top of the Golden Hawks in the end by three.

Unofficially, Mid-Prairie won the rebounding battle by five, but lost the turnover battle by two. Both sides had less than 10 turnovers. Mid-Prairie was led by a red-hot Henry and his 35-point performance that included seven three-pointers, followed by Brady Weber’s 23. The victorious Beavers were led by Putman’s 26 and Sawvell’s 22.

With both upset losses, the Golden Hawk girls fall to 13-4 overall and 8-2 in the RVC South, while the boys fall to 14-3 overall and 8-2 in the RVC South. Both Mid-Prairie squads will next be in action Monday night at home against longtime rival Washington, while Wilton is off until next Friday when they travel to West Branch to face the Bears. The next time you can hear Mid-Prairie basketball on AM and FM KCII is Tuesday night when the Hawks are back in Tim Grady Gymnasium to face the Tipton Tigers in another RVC double dip. Pregame is slated for 5:30, with Unc N Nephs Food and Brew Opening Tip of the girls game set for 6 p.m.