Trojans too much for Hawks

Missed free throws and layups in the first half came back to haunt the Mid-Prairie girls? basketball team on Tuesday night.

In a season-opening game against Fairfield (ranked No. 5, Class 4A), the Golden Hawks set the pace they wanted in the first half, but couldn?t capitalize on their opportunities, converting only 4-of-16 free throws in the opening two quarters.

Those opportunities left Mid-Prairie in a five-point deficit after a half, and Fairfield turned up the speed in the second half to hand the Hawks a 63-50 defeat to open the season.

?We had great shots against the pressure in the first half, but missed a lot of easy layups,? Mid-Prairie head coach Stephen Bender said. ?We were going a little too fast, and if we make those shots we are leading going into halftime. We were 4-of-16 from the free throw line in the first half. If we make those, it?s a totally different ballgame.?

The Golden Hawks had strong performances from Alex Rath and Addison Rath in the contest, as Addison posted a game-high 21 points, and Alex finished the game with 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

In the early going, Mid-Prairie?s defense was giving fits to the Fairfield offense, forcing the Trojans into nine first-half turnovers.

That led to offensive opportunities, and Fairfield fouls, as Mid-Prairie found themselves in the bonus less than seven minutes into the ballgame. However, the Hawks couldn?t take advantage, and despite an 8-2 run late in the first half, Mid-Prairie found themselves down 27-22.

In the second half, Fairfield opened the scoring with an 8-2 run of its own, jumping out to an 11-point lead, but the Hawks fought back, using a pair of Addison Rath buckets to close the gap back to five points.

After that Fairfield went on a 14-3 run, that the Hawks couldn?t recover from, as the Trojans picked up their first win of the season.

?I think we got tired,? Bender said. ?They are playing a lot more girls than we play, and when you get tired, you don?t get to the spots you need to. We saw that happening and had some turnovers. In the first half, we beat their pressure and got some layups, but as they wore us down, we had trouble.?

Mid-Prairie shot poorly from the free-throw line, making just 12-of-29 total free throws, but Bender said the work his team did on the offensive glass was impressive.

?Offensively, I thought we crashed very well,? Bender said. ?Defensively, it seemed to me that we were giving them second and third chances. We need to be more disciplined when the shot goes up to find someone. When you get tired, it gets harder.?

Despite the loss, Bender said his team understands the quality of opponent it fell to, and shouldn?t be discouraged by the close loss.

?The girls are not down,? Bender said. ?They know we had a chance in this game to win it, and they are excited for the rest of the season. This is probably the best team we?ll play, along with West Branch and Regina being close.?

Mid-Prairie will open its conference schedule when it hosts Tipton for its next game, with a girls?-boys? varsity doubleheader on Dec. 1, starting at 6:30 p.m.