The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk boys and girls basketball teams put on a show in their home openers Friday, sweeping away the Camanche Storm in both ends of a River Valley Conference doubleheader. The Golden Hawk girls were a 60-58 winner in a closely contested game that was never separated by more than five points either way. The Storm led 16-11 after one and the game was tied at 24 at half. Mid-Prairie led 43-42 after three as they leaned on their defense, rebounding and inside game. Those would prove to be the difference down the stretch as the Storm had back-to-back turnovers in the final minute and Mid-Prairie got points in the paint to seal the win. The two teams combined for 68 turnovers, 36 for Camanche, Mid-Prairie won the glass by eight. Callie Huber went double double with 20 points and 11 boards, Brooklyn Schneider had 11 points. Golden Hawk of the Game Huber joined the KCII Postgame Show to talk about her night and the win.
Huber said, “Our press was working really well. We had good ball pressure and people in the right spots. We boxed out well. (Games like this are) very stressful, thinking I have to make this. You have to just keep playing your game. I always remember to breathe and sing a song in my head before I shoot free throws to try to take my mind off of the stress. There’s nothing like winning a close game. It’s amazing! I was hitting my shots tonight and taking smart shots. When our threes weren’t falling we did a good of recognizing that tonight and getting the ball inside.”
The Golden Hawks are now 3-0, Camanche is 1-3.
In the nightcap, the Golden Hawk boys offense rained down on the Storm from start to finish in a 90-54 win. Mid-Prairie started the game on a 17-2 run and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire. The Hawks were up 26-16 after one, thanks to Brooks Weber, going for 17 points, including five threes in the first quarter of his first ever varsity start. The Golden Hawk lead grew to 45-26 at half. A 30-point Mid-Prairie third quarter put the game out of reach and the Hawks enacted the running clock in the fourth getting the win. The Golden Hawks won turnovers 13-6 and the boards by 12. They hit 14 threes as a team, eight of them from Brooks Weber en route to a career high 30 points. He joined the KCII Post game show to talk about his epic night.
Weber said, “My teammates were really giving me great looks. All of the guards and bigs were kicking out. The first one, I knew was going in tonight. Once I hit the second one, I knew the team and I were going to have a good night tonight. Everyone on the team contributed in some way.Everyone steps on the court and does their job. It’s a great team to be a part of. (My favorite parts) are when we went on the big runs, or when the bench guys got in and had a chance to do their thing. It was one of the best experiences of my life, I’ll never forget it!”
Bryce Henry joined him in double figures with 20 and Brady Weber had 13, in total nine Hawks scored. Mid-Prairie is now 2-0 on the year and will play Pekin Thursday. Camanche is 1-1.