IOWA CITY

Dreams of a regional girls basketball title floated away painfully for Mid-Prairie on Saturday.

As Davenport Assumption’s players celebrated and gathered for a team photo around a championship banner following a bruising battle at Iowa City West, the Golden Hawks retreated to their locker room to let their emotions spill following the team’s best season since 2017.

The Golden Hawks did not go down easily in their 44-32 loss.

“I wanted to fight as hard as I could,” said Mid-Prairie senior forward Maddie Nonnenmann. “I saw the end coming, but I didn’t want to finish without knowing that I tried my hardest.”

Nonnenmann scored a game-high 13 points and grabbed a game-high 8 rebounds in her final high school game. And she did so despite having to come out of the game with two early fouls in the opening quarter. Nonnenmann was a dominant force in the paint and at one point in the final quarter just ripped the ball away from Assumption 6-foot-1 forward Ava Schubert for a rebound.

“I just got really mad,” Nonnenmann said with a chuckle after the game.

“She’s a gamer,” Golden Hawks head coach Danny Hershberger said. “She’s going to do everything she can to help the team. We needed to find a way to try and get back in it. She stepped up and was giving it everything she had to help us do that.”

The game finished off a 15-win season for the Golden Hawks, who were attempting to reach the Class 3A state tournament for the first time since 2016. Mid-Prairie wound up with the most wins since the 2016-17 team won 17 games.

“We had a great season when no one believed we could get this far,” Nonnenmann said.

Defensive intensity showed up early in Saturday’s game. There were no open shots. Bodies slammed into other bodies underneath the basket on both ends.

In the game’s first five minutes, the Golden Hawks and Lady Knights scored just two baskets apiece. They combined for just 17 points in the opening quarter as Assumption took a 10-7 lead.

Schubert, a top 5 scorer and rebounder in the Mississippi Athletic Conference, was held to one basket and a pair of free throws in the first half. Nonnenmann scored twice. Schubert finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds.

The Lady Knights led 22-16 at halftime and then built a 15-point lead, 33-18, in the third quarter by holding the Golden Hawks to just one basket in the quarter.

Nonnenmann decided the night wasn’t over. After providing the pass to Landy Pacha for Mid-Prairie’s only basket of the third quarter, Nonnenmann scored the first two baskets of the final quarter and stole a rebound out of Schubert’s arms. She added a 3-pointer and 2-point basket later in the quarter as the Golden Hawks student section roared its approval.

“I’m so appreciative of her and what she’s meant to this team,” Hershberger said.

Nonnenmann drove for a hoop against Schubert to close the deficit to eight points, 37-29, with 1:14 left, but the Lady Knights were able to hold on their fourth straight win and a berth in the state tournament.

Annika Kotula led Assumption (15-9) with 12 points.

Junior guard Amara Jones and sophomore guard Nora Pennington added 6 points for Mid-Prairie. Senior guard Cana Rediger had a team-high 4 assists and 3 points in her final game.