After trailing by 11 early in the third quarter, Mid-Prairie battled back to take a one-point lead going into the fourth at No. 12 Cascade. 

But the Golden Hawks couldn’t keep up the intensity in the final quarter as Cascade pulled away for the 64-51 win. 

Maddie Nonnenmann, who had a team-high 17 points, scored four in a row to spark Mid-Prairie in the third quarter. Amara Jones scored off of a turnover to trim the lead to two before Nora Pennington’s 3-pointer capped a 12-0 run to put Mid-Prairie ahead 38-37. 

Mid-Prairie coach Danny Hershberger said the halftime conversation was about turning up the pressure defensively. 

“We had to be more active on defense, we were caught standing still too many times in the first half and gave up some open shots,” he said. “The girls really responded to that and did a great job. But  we were pressing a little bit, we were trying to trap and they were able to figure that out a little bit and get some layups out of it.”

Jones hit a big 3-pointer to give the Golden Hawks a 44-43 lead and another one to tie it at 48-48, but Cascade closed the game on a 16-3 run. 

“I think we kind of wore out, getting ourselves back in the game a little bit,” Hershberger said. 

Jones was 3-of-6 from the 3-point line and finished with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. The Golden Hawks were 9-of-22 from outside the arc as a team. 

“Ball movement was huge for us,” Hershberger said. “We were able to use some pass fakes to create some space for ourselves. We were able to move the ball quickly in and out and get some wide open shots and then we were able to knock down those open shots when we got them.”

Mid-Prairie trailed 14-10 after one quarter and was down just 24-19 with three minutes left in the first half thanks to 10 first-half points from Nonnenmann. She hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first half and finished 3-of-7 from outside. 

The Cougars pulled away over the last couple minutes of the first half to take a 33-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. 

Jones hit a 3-pointer for the first points of the second half, but a pair of turnovers gave Cascade easy layups to put the Cougars ahead 37-26 before Mid-Prairie went on a run to win the quarter 21-10. 

Landry Pacha scored eight points and had three assists. Maya Nonnenmann had a big 3-pointer late in the third quarter to cut the lead to one. She finished with five points and three assists. Cana Rediger hit a 3-pointer and had three assists. 

Ally Hoffman led the Cougars with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists.  Junior Alyssa Lux was 4-of-7 from the 3-point line for 18 points in the Cascade win.