Mid-Prairie girls fall to Durant

by Coach Marc Pennington
The Durant Wildcats defeated the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks 38-29 in Cedar Valley Conference girls’ basketball Tuesday, January 26, at Tim Grady Gymnasium.
The Hawks managed just eight points in the second and third quarters combined and trailed 29-18 entering the fourth quarter. The young Golden Hawks struggled with Durant’s extended 2-3 zone and had a hard time penetrating it for good scoring opportunities.
Kattie Redlinger continued her solid play with a career-high 12 points, and Erika Murphy chipped in nine. Meghan Redlinger, Mallory McArtor, Erin Cayton, and Taylor Hershberger each had two points.
Coach’s comments: We really struggled with Durant’s zone defense tonight. We knew it was coming but be didn’t reverse the ball well enough to make the zone move.
Defensively we were very solid for the most part and we held their best scorer to eight points below her season average and her lowest point total of the year.
We are still working on getting everything to click on the same night and with tournaments coming, our goal is to get some momentum as we prepare for tournament play.
This group is extremely fun to coach, I just want them to see more reward for their work, and I wish they would just put themselves out there and trust that they are better when they play together and carefree.
Mid-Prairie stats: Meghan Redlinger 1 0-0 2, 1 rebound, 1 steal; Olivia Lugar 1 rebound, 1 assist; Erin Cayton 1 0-2 2, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 deflection, 1 assist; Mallory McArtor 1 0-0 2, 3 rebounds, 1 deflection, 2 assists; Kattie Redlinger 6 0-0 12, 1 steal, 3 deflections; Taylor Hershberger 1 0-0 2, 4 rebounds, 1 deflection, 1 assist; Mariah Swartzentruber 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 assists; Erika Murphy 3 3-6 9, 2 rebounds; Jessie Butters 1 rebound.