Mid-Prairie showed no rust in the first quarter on Tuesday, coming back from a two-week break. The Golden Hawks quickly built a 15-6 lead over Wilton, but then the Beavers made some adjustments. 

Six straight points brought Wilton within a point at 19-18 early in the second half, but Mid-Prairie would not give up the lead. Maddie Nonnenmann hit a long 2-pointer to end the run. Cana Rediger buried a three and Amara Jones stole the ball and finished to push the lead to up to eight. 

Rediger hit two more 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as Mid-Prairie (5-3) held off Wilton (6-3) for a 43-38 win.

“In the beginning, I wasn't really hitting anything,” said Rediger, who also had four assists in the win. “My teammates were lifting me up, and then I just slowed down and made them.”

Mid-Prairie led 29-25 after three quarters, but Reidger’s third triple extended the lead to 35-27. 

Nonnenmann also made a pair of shots in the fourth quarter, including a critical score after the Beavers had cut it to 39-35.

“That's kind of been our story for the last couple of games, our seniors stepping up and making those shots,” Mid-Prairie coach Danny Hershberger said.  “I’m just really proud of the way those two have stepped up and provided some scoring in those big moments.”

Jones also scored four points in the fourth quarter and led Mid-Prairie with 13 points, five assists and five steals. The Golden Hawks shot just 7-of-15 at the free throw line, but Jones was 4-for-4 and scored the game’s final points from the stripe. 

Mid-Prairie went on a 9-2 run over the final three minutes of the first quarter to take an early nine-point lead. Landry Pacha had four points in the first quarter and finished with six points, three steals, and a team-high eight rebounds. 

The Golden Hawks scored just four points in the second quarter, all from the free throw line. 

“They picked up their defense a little bit,” Hershberger said. “They kind of figured out what we were trying to do and then started taking it away. We tried to get out and get some fast break points, and were able to do that early. And they kind of slowed that down and we got some foul trouble as well.

“But you know, when you're not playing great offense, you have to play great defense and our girls were able to do that.”

Wilton seniors Kesley Drake and Ella Caffery combined to score the first 35 points of the game for Wilton, before Charlotte Brown became the Beavers' third scorer in the final minute.

“We wanted to double them anytime we could,” Hershberger said. “They've had a couple of injuries as well. And so they have some players out there that haven't played a whole lot this year. On defense, we wanted to force some of those different girls to get some shots up and I was really happy with the way our girls executed.”