M-P girls lose to Durant on the road

by Coach Marc Pennington
The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks turned in their most consistent effort of the year in a tough 43-39 loss at Durant Friday, December 18. The Hawks shot a season-high 39 percent in the loss, outrebounded Durant 34-28, and had a season-low 17 turnovers.
Mid-Prairie fell behind by as many as 11 in the first quarter and kept chipping away until finally taking the lead on a three-point play by Erika Murphy halfway through the final period.
Durant answered with six straight points to retake the lead.
The difference in the game was again at the free throw line where Durant had 26 attempts compared to just nine for Mid-Prairie.
Mid-Prairie was again balanced in the scoring column. Mallory McArtor and Erika Murphy each finished with nine points, Olivia Lugar had seven, Taylor Hershberger and Mariah Swartzentruber each had five points, and Meghan Redlinger had two.
Coach’s comments: We took a giant step forward tonight. I felt like we really competed for the entire game. There is a difference between playing hard and competing, and tonight we did both and more importantly, the girls recognized the difference.
I think they had fun playing in this game and are continuing to gain more and more confidence. I strongly believe that once we are able to get over the hump and win a close game, things will start falling into place.
We shot the ball more confidently tonight, and girls were starting to figure out where they could attack offensively.
We shot a better percentage at the free throw line, but only got nine attempts compared to 26 for Durant. In the past we have really taken advantage of the holiday break with good practices and scrimmages and hopefully we will be able to do that again as we prepare for 10 games in 15 school days after the holiday break.
M-P stats: Meghan Redlinger 1 0-0 2, 3 rebounds, 1 assist; Olivia Lugar 3 1-2 7, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 deflection; Erin Cayton 1 0-0 2, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 deflection, 2 assists; Mallory McArtor 3 2-2 9, 1 3-pointer, 9 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 deflection, 1 assist; Kattie Redlinger 1 rebound, 1 steal, 2 deflections; Taylor Hershberger 1 3-4 5, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist; Mariah Swartzentruber 2 0-0 5, 1 3-pointer, 4 rebounds, 2 assists; Erika Murphy 4 1-1 9, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 deflections.