Photo Courtesy of MP Sports Social Media (Nicole Miller)

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team defended their home court Friday with a 62-53 River Valley Conference win over the West Branch Bears in Wellman. Mid-Prairie held a 17-10 lead after the first period and would push the margin to 11 in the second, their largest of the night, before seeing West Branch close on a 6-0 run of their own to climb within 29-27 at half. The Bears took a brief one point lead after the break, only to see Golden Hawk senior Nora Pennington pour in seven straight points and swipe three steals to restore the Mid-Prairie lead. Despite a five minute drought from the floor, the Golden Hawks did enough on defense and at the line, closing the game 11 of 14 at the stripe in the fourth to grab the win. Mid-Prairie shot 50%, had 34 rebounds, 11 assists and 11 steals. Jovi Evans led the way with 16 points and Pennington added 15. Pennington, the Golden Hawk of the Game, joined the KCII Postgame Show to talk about the win.

Pennington said, “(In the second half) we all started to work together a lot and that made us increase our intensity and the lead. Our defense turns into our offense so, we come back and kick butt on defense. Our assists this year are crazy. We pass the ball well, we see the court, which helps, and it’s improving as the year goes on. That’s been really great to watch and be a part of.”

Mid-Prairie is now 8-5 on the year and 6-2 in conference play. They are back on the floor Monday at Mount Pleasant.