Though the Mid-Prairie girls basketball team held the advantage most of the night Wednesday, including four separate double digit leads, their class 3A regional semifinal against West Burlington felt more like a tug-of-war, and the Hawks were able to get the job done 64-58. In a game heard on AM and FM KCII, the Falcons held a pair of single point leads early before the Hawks went on an 11-0 run during portions of the first and second quarters to take a lead that they would not give up the rest of the night, but would never grow more than 12. Kylie Reinier was the catalyst for the run, the junior who averages two points per game scored eight in the first quarter and 10 in the first half. Up 15-9 after the first, the Hawks added one to their lead, winning the second 19-18 to take a 34-27 advantage into half.

West Burlington hung around in the second half, winning the third quarter 16-13. With the margin at 48-43 going to the fourth, the two teams locked in for a tight battle the finish. West Burlington, riding the hot hand of the state’s seventh leading scorer Abbey Bence, and her game high 26 points, would cut the Golden Hawk lead to one possession with under a minute to go. Mid-Prairie was able to run the clock with a four corners offense, make free throws and received an intentional foul call against the Falcons to put the game away. After the contest, Golden Hawk senior Maddie Nonnenmann and junior Amara Jones joined the KCII postgame show to talk about the win. “I think our ball movements was great tonight. Everybody was getting shots up, everybody was scoring and that helped us get the lead. We just had to stick in it mentally when they made their run and just tell ourselves that we weren’t going to let them pass us.”

Mid-Prairie turned the Falcons over 20 times, while giving the ball away 17 times. West Burlington won the boards by six. A trio of Hawks led the way in scoring with Nonnenmann, Landry Pacha and Josie Greiner all scoring 11. Reinier had 10. The Golden Hawks got 28 bench points in the game, with Greiner and Maya Nonnenmann contributing key baskets. With the win, Mid-Prairie is now 15-8 and moves to Saturday’s regional final, one game away from the state tournament in Des Moines. This weekend the Golden Hawks will meet Davenport Assumption with a state bid on the line. The Knights beat No. 7 West Liberty Wednesday 39-37. Saturday’s regional final will be played at 7p.m. at Iowa City West High School. You can hear all of the action live on KCII beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show at 6:30.