Mid-Prairie girls continue hot stretch

WELLMAN — The Mid-Prairie girls basketball team continued to be the team of 2023 on Monday night. The Golden Hawks stayed unbeaten in the calendar year, surviving an early Washington rush and pulling away late in a 55-40 victory.

Mid-Prairie’s Landry Pacha puts up a shot over a couple of Washington defenders on Monday night. (Andy Krutsinger/The Union)

Mid-Prairie has now won nine-straight games since New Year’s Day. Six of those wins have come by double digits.

Washington wasn’t going to make it easy early on. Demon freshman Adalyn Long was launching 3-pointers in the first quarter, hitting three shots from downtown to help her team stay in it.

Despite the early threes, Mid-Prairie held a 16-15 lead after one quarter. The Golden Hawks stretched that edge to 34-24 by halftime.

Washington’s Alex Murphy battles inside for a shot attempt on Monday night in Wellman. (Andy Krutsinger/The Union)

“We're a competitive group,” said Mid-Prairie head coach Daniel Hershberger. “Washington came out and they were hitting a lot of 3-pointers there, early. As the game went on, we started to make some adjustments.”

The Demons had the lead down to nine after three quarters, but Mid-Prairie turned that 43-34 advantage into a 15-point win after holding the defense to just six fourth-quarter points.

Washington head coach Shannon Rugg says he’s happy to see his team compete, but that the Demons need to turn it up in the win column.

Washington’s Leighton Messinger handles the ball in front of the Washington bench on Monday night. (Andy Krutsinger/The Union)

“You still want to win the basketball game,” Rugg said. “Our girls are competing hard, and we’re getting better, but there are things we can fix in practice.”

Mid-Prairie’s Landry Pacha scored 16 points on the day, 14 of which came in the second half. Maya Nonnenmann, who got it going early for the Golden Hawks, finished with 14.

Nora Pennington had eight points on the day. Callie Huber finished with eight. Kylie Reinier scored five. Amara Jones and Josie Greiner put up three apiece.

Washington was co-led by Adalyn Long and Alex Murphy, who each scored 13 points in the loss. Leighton Messinger had four. Kaylin Long scored three. Makenna Conrad, Taylor Miksch and Maci Williams all finished with two.

Mid-Prairie is now 14-5 on the year. Washington fell to 7-10.