A road sweep of Durant Friday sent the Mid-Prairie girls and boys basketball teams happily into the holiday break undefeated. The Mid-Prairie girls needed some late heroics to score a 52-49 win. The contest was tight all the way, with the Hawks down 12-10 after one and 22-20 at half. Mid-Prairie pulled within 35-34 going to the fourth, but watched the Wildcats push ahead by five with under 15 seconds left. That’s when the Mid-Prairie magic started. Izzy Kite flew down the floor and hit a three, two point game. A Golden Hawk foul and a Wildcat split at the line left it a three point game at nine seconds to go. Off the miss, the Hawks hustled to the front court again where Kite drilled another three, seemingly as time expired, to tie the game. The officials confirmed a Durant timeout after the made basket, putting two seconds back on the clock. The Wildcats would throw a length of the court pass and miss everyone, turning it over and giving the Hawks a look under their own basket, and Mid-Prairie didn’t miss. The ball came in bounds to Morgyn Bender who launched a dagger at the buzzer from the volleyball line to beat Durant and the Golden Hawks celebrated with a pile near mid-court. After the game, the Golden Hawk heroes, Bender and Kite joined the KCII postgame show to talk about the final moments.
Bender said, “I knew that if I got the ball, I had to let it go right away. I didn’t think it was going in until it hit the rim. Then I knew it had a chance. I was just so excited and so happy that we won. I knew I could not handle losing to them again like we did last year.”
Kite said, “I know we need the shot and I want the shot. I just trust my instincts. It just feels really good to do that for my team. In these tough games, you can tell we really come together and play for each other. My teammates found for me for great shots. (Close games) are my favorite time to play. It really shows what kind of team you are. We get hyped, because there aren’t many games like this!”…