Hawk comeback falls short

After a slow second quarter, the Mid-Prairie girls? basketball team looked to rally in the second half against a top-5 ranked team.

The Golden Hawks were looking to avenge an earlier 29-point loss to West Branch on Friday night, and despite drawing within two points late, they couldn?t close the comeback, falling 51-47.

?I?m extremely proud of the girls? effort after losing by 29 the first time, and now have a chance to beat them tonight,? Mid-Prairie head coach Stephen Bender said after the contest. ?I?m so proud of the girls.?

The Hawks picked up a victory at Bellevue on Saturday to make it a weekend split, and move their record to 8-4 on the season (8-3 in conference action).

In the contest against Class 2A, No. 4 ranked West Branch, the Hawks were led by junior Ali Butters, who scored 12 of her 20 points in the first half.

?She can jump, so that makes it easy inside,? Bender said. ?We saw a mismatch with the girls guarding her and we knew they couldn?t guard her. She was the biggest mismatch, and she had a big night because of that.?

Alex Rath hit a trio of late 3-pointers to score 11 points, while Addison Rath picked up 11 points in the contest.

The Hawks played to a tie after one quarter with the Bears, with the teams locked at 14 points apiece, but the second quarter saw both offenses go cold.

West Branch was able to take a lead despite only scoring nine points in the quarter, as they held the Hawks to only two points in the quarter.

?The biggest difference was the second quarter,? Bender said. ?We only scored two points. We weren?t aggressive and we didn?t see our mismatches. I thought that was the difference in the game. We were passive.?

West Branch appeared set to pull away in the third quarter, adding 19 points to their score, to take a 42-31 lead into the final period.

Mid-Prairie went on a 9-1 run in the fourth to make it a five-point game, which included Alex Rath?s first 3-pointer of the game.

The Hawks closed the game to four points on an Allyson Wertz free throw, and after West Branch hit one of two free-throw attempts, Alex Rath hit her second 3-pointer of the game to make it 48-46.

?We ran two sets for her and one she was just open to hit,? Bender said. ?She knew she was going to shoot it because they were set plays for her, but we were also down. She hit some big shots and it was big. West Branch is scoring 65 per game, so to hold them to 51 is pretty good.?

A West Branch bucket and Mid-Prairie turnover put the Bears back on top by five points with 45 seconds left, but another Alex Rath 3-pointer brought the Hawks within two points with 25.7 seconds to play.

As Mid-Prairie attempted to foul, it was called intentional, and the Bears picked up a free throw and retained possession. Another foul and free throw and the Hawks couldn?t recover, dropping the game to the Bears.

?We had a chance, down by two late,? Bender said. ?We knew we had the possession arrow in our favor, so we went for a tie-up. It was a tough break to get the intentional foul called. You want the players to decide the outcome of the game, not a call like that, but that?s how it was called. We need to make sure we go for the ball.?

In the contest against Bellevue, Butters continued her strong season, notching 19 points, while Ireland Hostetler and Addison Rath each picked up 10 points.

Mid-Prairie will continue its season on Tuesday when it hosts Regina, who handed them a 50-37 loss on the road earlier this year.