Photo Courtesy of MP Sports Social Media (Nicole Miller)

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk girls basketball team saw their playoff run come to a close in Wednesday’s semifinal round of the Class 3A Regional Tournament, falling at No. 13 Chariton 53-33. After an early Mid-Prairie lead, the Chargers closed the opening period with an 8-0 run to grab an advantage they wouldn’t give up on the night at 11-8. Chariton was up 26-17 at half. Out of the break, the Chargers pushed the lead to 16, the Golden Hawks answered late in the third to cut it to nine, but a Charger 12-2 run early in the fourth put the game away. After the contest, Mid-Prairie head coach Danny Hershberger joined the KCII Postgame Show, to talk about what he saw as the difference in the contest. Hershberger said, “Unfortunately, their offensive rebounding got us. We gave up a lot of second chance opportunities. We did a good job of pressuring them and getting our hands up. They made it tough for us to execute our offense and they pressured us on the ball and overplayed the wings. They were running double teams at the post and stealing entry passes to the post from the back side. We got another consistent performance from Callie Huber. We’ve come to expect that. She battled inside. When we were able to get her the ball she did a great job of finishing strong. Jovi Evans had a good night offensively. She did a good job of being aggressive and attacking the basket. Brooklyn Schneider did well on offense. We were able to get her some open looks and she knocked a few down. Nora Pennington again did all of those little things that don’t always show up on the stat sheet. She got deflections. She scored for us early to get us settled in. That’s a senior leader stepping up.”

The Chargers won the glass by 13, had 17 offensive rebounds, 15 assists, 13 steals and won the turnover battle 25-15. Individually, Chariton was led by a 25 point, 12 rebound double double for Tatyana Allen-Winston and got 15 points from McKenzie Snook. Callie Huber led the Hawks with 11 points and seven boards. Mid-Prairie wraps up their season at 11-11. The Golden Hawks say goodbye to senior Nora Pennington. Chariton is now 20-3 on the year and travels to Solon Saturday to face the top ranked Lady Spartans in the Regional Final with a trip to state on the line.