Hawks pressing toward state

Only eight teams get to play on the court at Wells Fargo Arena in the first week of March.

The Mid-Prairie girls? basketball team signaled that they are ready to be one of those teams when the Class 3A regional rounds wrap up on Saturday night.

No. 14 ranked Mid-Prairie (15-8) used its strong defense to its advantage on Wendesday night, earning a 84-52 road rout of Central Lee in the regional semifinals, forcing 26 turnovers in the contest, something that head coach Stephen Bender calls a key to their success.

?We?ve created a lot of turnovers all season, but I think we are doing a couple of things,? Bender said. ?Teams haven?t seen the type of pressure that we are showing them, and we have a lot of athletes who are fast and can cause some problems for teams.?

Bender also noted that their half-court defense has been nearly just as good at creating turnovers as the press.

Coming into the regional final, Mid-Prairie has won six-straight games, by an average of 25 points per game, and the girls have won seven of their last nine games.

In the two losses over that span (vs. Camance, at Durant), both came by four points.

?They are feeling good,? Bender said. ?They really believe in our team and believe in each other. They think we have a really good chance to get a win and we are playing our best basketball at the right time of year.?

Mid-Prairie?s success has come with an addition to the regular rotation, as Bender has been able to add to his formula this season, with Anna Vilovchik becoming an eighth player to their rotation.

?Early in the season we didn?t press too much, because we didn?t have a real deep bench, and we wanted to stay out of foul trouble,? Bender said. ?Our bench has stepped up lately, allowing us to press. We played seven girls most of the year, but Anna Vilovchik has started to play well, giving us a third sub off the bench.?

This year, Mid-Prairie has three girls averaging double digits in scoring, led by junior Ali Butters with 12.2 points per game.

Sophomore Addison Rath picks up 11.7 points and a team-best five rebounds per game, while senior Alex Rath earns 10.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

The only team standing in the Golden Hawks? way to state is a 12-11 South Tama team that upset No. 12 ranked West Marshall in the first round of the regional rounds, and is coming off a 22-point victory over Williamsburg in its regional semifinal.

South Tama plays against a lot of 4A competition during its regular season schedule, and Bender knows they won?t be able to take them lightly, saying he picked them to upset West Marshall when the brackets came out.

?We?ve looked at them a bit, and we?ll be prepared,? Bender said. ?From what I know (on Thursday) they turn the ball over a bit, and they have some height. They aren?t as quick as us, so we are going to want to get into more of a fast-paced game on offense, and they?ll want to slow us down.?

South Tama will be ready to get to the state tournament as well, with six seniors on their roster, and five of their top six scorers being seniors.

A wildcard for South Tama will be freshman Jessica Musgrave, who has only appeared in nine games this season, but averages nine points and 3.3 rebounds per game in her limited action.

Musgrave scored 13 points in the regional semifinal against Williamsburg.

The Hawks will face South Tama in Oskaloosa at 7 p.m. on Saturday night, and Bender is confident in his team.

?All the girls are motivated right now, and seeing that we are this close are giving them the extra confidence,? Bender said. ?Seeing how well we are playing here at the end of the season, this is our sixth win in a row. We are hitting our stride.?