Mid-Prairie begins season under new tutelage

Mid-Prairie girls basketball will have a familiar face on its sideline this season.

The Golden Hawks will be led in 2025-26 by coach Jenny Hobbs. The former Mid-Prairie and Iowa State women’s basketball player enters her first season at the helm after taking over for Mikaela Lunsford.

Hobbs not only has familiarity with Mid-Prairie basketball, but has developed some chemistry with her current players having served as an assistant coach for the Golden Hawks softball team.

“It's just one of those things where I just can't wait to see the black and gold and have them show pride,” Hobbs said. “Because I've always loved Mid-Prairie and the Golden Hawks.

Mid-Prairie finished the 2024-25 season 16-6, including a 9-3 mark in River Valley Conference play, good enough to come runner up to Regina Catholic. The Golden Hawks season ended with a 35-16 loss to Williamsburg in the Class 3A Region 4 semifinal.

Hobbs’ effect on the program has been immediate. Despite losing two of its top three scorers Callie Huber (11.1 points per game) and Brylee Gearhart (8.9 ppg), Hobbs is still expecting Mid-Prairie to have multiple double-digit scorers in games this season. She also wants her players to use their speed to their advantage.

“That's really our goal is to just beat people up and down the floor, demoralize them,” Hobbs said. “Use our quickness and athletic ability to make easy baskets. Play quick defense. Boom. Pass it ahead. Layup.”

Brooklyn Schneider is the Golden Hawks leading returning scorer, averaging just under nine points per game in 20 appearances with 19 starts last season. The junior also made the most 3s on the team with 36.

“I really see her game more diversified (than) it has been in the past,” Hobbs said. “We can look at her as a shooter, but she can really score from anywhere.”

Mid-Prairie retained plenty of pace and shooting from a team that ranked No. 5 in 3A with 22.5 made field goals per game a year ago. Tessa Bombei and Katelyn Harland are both back in the fold after starting 22 games last season. Bombei averaged 4.9 points and shot 33.3% from 3. Harland led the team in assists with 2.8 per game.

The Golden Hawks also return Jeorgia Evans and Morgyn Bender, who both played in 22 games last season, mostly as substitutes. Jovi Evans is back in the side for her senior season after last appearing in 20 games with 19 starts in 2023-24.

“I think this year we have a very widespread group,” Bender said. “We have a lot of shooters, a lot of fast girls, a lot of defenders. All those types of things will just help us.”

Despite the returning offensive firepower, the Golden Hawks will have to fill in a few key gaps left by Huber and Gearhart. The pair were Mid-Prairie’s top two rebounders, and both ranked in the top three on the team in blocks, which put Mid-Prairie among the top five teams in 3A in both categories.

Bender’s goal for the season to improve as a rebounder after averaging 3.3 per game last season and projects as the Golden Hawks’ best interior defender after racking up 29 blocks last season. Over the first week of practice, the Golden Hawks have put a heavy emphasis on defensive fundamentals to give Mid-Prairie a strong identity on that end of the floor as it eyes a deeper postseason run in 2025-26.

“We focus on the little things, which is definitely very important and it's not the same repetitive practice,” Harland said. “I mean, obviously we're still doing the fundamentals, but we're switching it up, we're learning new things each day but still implementing the things we learned the day before, and it's really going to help us over the season.”

Mid-Prairie will begin the season with a home matchup against Benton on Dec. 1. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Mid-Prairie High School.

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