Mid-Prairie girls beat North Cedar

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks picked up their fifth win of the season and a season sweep of North Cedar with a 34-27 victory at North Cedar Friday, January 29.
“We were very happy to get our fifth win of the year and finish possibly as high as sixth in the league when we were predicted to finish last,” said coach Marc Pennington. ÒThe girls did a better job of attacking the openings in the zone in the second half, and we got some shots to fall which helps.Ó
The Hawks got off to a slow start offensively, trailing 5-7 after the first quarter. A bucket at the buzzer by Olivia Lugar ending the first half gave the Hawks a 16-14 halftime lead.
Mid-Prairie extended the lead in the third quarter by outscoring the Knights 8-4 and led by six. They won the game by seven.
The Hawks were led by Mariah Swartzentruber with nine, Erin Cayton seven, and Erika Murphy six. Also contributing to the scoring were Taylor Hershberger with four, Mallory McArtor three, Olivia Lugar and Kattie Redlinger two, and Jessie Butters with one.
Coach’s comments: We were also very active defensively mixing up our defenses and forcing 20 turnovers.
We found a combination of girls in the second half that seemed to play well together, so we are hoping that will continue down the stretch.
We finish the regular season with three tough, non-conference games against 3A schools which will help prepare us for tournament time.