CHARITON

Mid-Prairie’s girls basketball season ended against one of the state’s top scoring duos.

Tatyana Allen-Winston and Mckenzie Snook of Chariton, who both rank among the top 11 scorers in Iowa 3A, combined for 40 points and 19 rebounds in a 53-33 win over the Golden Hawks in a regional semifinal played Feb. 14 in Chariton.

Junior center Callie Huber, battling Allen-Winston in the paint, led Mid-Prairie with 11 points and 5 rebounds.

“Callie Huber did a great job of finishing around the basket when we were able to get the ball inside to her,” Golden Hawks head coach Danny Hershberger said.

The loss ended Mid-Prairie’s season with an 11-11 record.

Snook and Allen-Winston rank No. 10 and 11, respectively, in 3A scoring.

Allen-Winston, a 5-foot-9 senior center, hit 11-of-17 shots and scored a game-high 25 points. She also had a game-high 12 rebounds. Snook, a senior forward, scored 15 points and had 7 rebounds.

Despite winning their 20^th game of the season to reach a regional final, the Chargers still ran into a powerful Solon team that has been at or near the top of the 3A state rankings all season. Chariton lost to the third-ranked Spartans 73-41 on Saturday. The Golden Hawks had fallen 72-29 at Solon earlier in the season.

Chariton built a 28-17 lead in the first half against Mid-Prairie with a strong rebounding game led by Allen-Winston.

“Chariton was able to get second-chance points in the first half to build their lead,” Hershberger said. “In the second half, we did a much better job of rebounding and limiting Chariton to one shot.”

But the 11-point deficit was too steep for the Golden Hawks.

Mid-Prairie scored six of the first eight points in the third quarter, including a basket by Huber that trimmed the deficit to 32-23 and caused Chariton coach Lee Sandy to call a timeout.

Baskets by sophomore guard Jovi Evans and Huber later in the third quarter kept the Golden Hawks within 10 points, but the Chargers opened things up in the final quarter. A 12-2 run put Chariton in front by 22 with less than four minutes left.

“Chariton’s pressure defense caused us to have some turnovers and allowed them to pull away in the fourth quarter,” Hershberger said.

Chariton forced Mid-Prairie into 29 turnovers.

Evans cut through Chariton’s defense to hit 4-of-7 shots and deliver a team-high 4 assists along with 5 rebounds.

“Jovi Evans did a great job of being aggressive on offense, driving to the basket and also finding who was open after drawing two defenders,” Hershberger said.

The loss ended a year in which the Golden Hawks had a winning record during the regular season for the third straight year, and with only one senior, Nora Pennington, in the starting lineup. Evans was the leading scorer among sophomores in the River Valley South and Brooklyn Schneider was the conference’s leading freshman.

“We had a lot of young players gain valuable experience this season at the varsity level,” Hershberger said. “Nora Pennington did a great job leading as the only senior on this year’s team. We didn’t have the record we quite wanted, finishing 11-11, but we are excited about the future with all the returning players we have.”

GAME STATS

CHARITON 53, MID-PRAIRIE 33

Mid-Prairie   8    9    10   6  --  33

Chariton     13   15   9   16  --  53

Mid-Prairie scoring: Callie Huber 11, Jovi Evans 8, Brooklyn Schneider 7, Brylee Gearhart 4, Nora Pennington 3.

Chariton scoring: Tatyana Allen-Winston 25, Mckenzie Snook 15, Abby Doran 8, Addie McGee 3, Brooke Masters 2.

Mid-Prairie rebounding leaders: Huber 5, Pennington 5, Evans 5.

Chariton rebounding leaders: Allen-Winston 12, Snook 7.