Photo Courtesy of MP Sports Social Media (Nicole Miller)
The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams traveled to Tipton Tuesday for a River Valley Conference hoops doubleheader and returned home with a split. The boys scored an 83-73 win. Mid-Prairie posted a 10-0 first quarter run to open a 19-10 lead through the first eight minutes. The Tigers hung around in the second, with the Hawk’s lead at 35-27 at the break. An early third quarter Mid-Prairie run pushed the Golden Hawk lead to 14, their largest of the night, but Tipton started a sprint at the end of the third to climb back in, trailing 53-45 going to the fourth, and the Tigers would cut the deficit all the way down to three at 63-60 with just under three minutes to go. From there, Mid-Prairie’s sharpshooters got to work in crunch time. The Hawks are the No. 10 three point shooting team by percentage in 2A with the fourth most makes in the state, and they did it in the clutch on three straight trips. A Dylan Henry three, followed by one from Ace Peck and a second from Henry stretched the advantage to 12 in the blink of an eye and put the game on ice.
After the contest, Henry, the KCII Golden Hawk of the Game, joined the postgame show to talk about the win and the late stretch of hot shooting. Henry said, “I knew when I let them go, they felt good and I was open. My teammates were driving and getting me open. They had good kickout passes. It all comes from getting to the paint originally and kicking it back out. It’s a lot easier to make threes when you’re wide open off a catch. It’s a lot of fun playing with people who can score the ball. When we’re all on at the same time it’s a lot of fun!”
Five Golden Hawks finished in double figures led by 20 points apiece for Henry and Ace Peck, 19 for Brady Weber, 13 for Bryce Henry and 11 for Conner Wiles. Brody Marchik had 24 points to lead Tipton. The Hawks hit 12 total threes and won the boards by seven. The Mid-Prairie boys are now 8-7 overall and 5-4 in conference. Tipton falls to 6-10, 2-7 in the RVC.
The Golden Hawk girls were beaten on the road 51-42. Mid-Prairie dominated action in most of the first two quarters but late flurries saw the Tigers on top at the end of each, 13-11 after one and 23-19 at half. Tipton started to get the outside shooting going in the second half, knocking down five threes after halftime, four of them in the third quarter, three from Carley Langenberg, to open a double digit lead going to the fourth. A late Golden Hawk push got them as close as seven but it wasn’t enough. Langenberg and Chloe Klabo led Tipton with 15 points each. Mid-Prairie got a double double from Callie Huber with 14 points and 10 boards, Jovi Evans added 11 points for Mid-Prairie, who won the boards by five but committed 26 turnovers. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 9-8 on the year, 5-4 in conference, Tipton is 12-5 and 6-2 in league play. The Hawks are back on the court Thursday when they host the state ranked Williamsburg boys and girls in a doubleheader.