Hawks clipped by CCA

It was a tight game through the first half, but after the halftime break, the Mid-Prairie girls? basketball team couldn?t withstand Clear Creek Amana any more.

An 8-2 run in the first part of the second half gave CCA all the separation it needed from the Hawks, as they picked up the 62-54 victory on Monday night.

?They?ve got a lot a lot of speed and we did not do a good job of moving our feet on defense,? Mid-Prairie head coach Stephen Bender said. ?When you play with your hands, you get into foul trouble, and unfortunately that?s what happened tonight. It makes our girls sit out, then they get to the free-throw line, and they made 19 out of 33. That?s the difference in the game.?

Mid-Prairie hit 12 of 21 free throws in the game.

The Hawks were led by Ali Riggan?s 12 points, which included three 3-pointers, while Taylor Kurtz had nine points and nine rebounds for Mid-Prairie, who fell to 14-7 after the nonconference, regular-season ending loss.

?We wanted to attack, so we were looking to get to the free-throw line,? Bender said. ?They got there more than us, because they were attacking us, and we weren?t playing good defense. Clear Creek is a good team, but we didn?t help ourselves out with the way we played defense tonight. We have to play a lot better if we want to make a run in the postseason.?

The Hawks started off the game quickly with a 7-2 run, but CCA answered with a 10-2 run of its own, taking a 16-12 lead into the first break.

Mid-Prairie responded with eight straight points, going on an 11-2 run to take a five-point lead, but CCA clawed its way back into the lead with a 10-3 run, and took a 31-29 lead into halftime.

After halftime, the Clippers continued their run, scoring eight of the first 10 points of the third quarter, extending its lead to as large as 14 points.

Mid-Prairie came back, closing the gap to eight points late in the fourth quarter, but couldn?t close out the contest, falling to the 4A opponent.

?They made some runs,? Bender said. ?It was close most of the game, but our girls didn?t give up. We fought and had a chance to get it back to six, but we didn?t. We didn?t make the shot, then they hit their free throws.?

The Hawks will prepare for the postseason, where they will host Williamsburg on Saturday night.

Williamsburg has only won three games, but resides in the same conference as Clear Creek Amana, losing to them by only three points a week ago.

?We have a tough game against Williamsburg, a team that just lost to (Clear Creek Amana) by three points,? Bender said. ?They only have three wins, but it?s not going to be easy to get that win.?

The home playoff game will begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday.