WELLMAN

Amara Jones, a Mid-Prairie junior guard, had an easy decision at one key point in the Golden Hawks Class 3A regional semifinal Wednesday night.

She stood behind the baseline and was ready to throw the ball in. As masses of players scrambled underneath the basket in front of her, she looked to her left and noticed that teammate Josie Greiner was all alone behind the 3-point line in a corner of the court.

So easy.

She simply tossed the ball over to her. Greiner caught the ball and shot. Nothing but net.

“She’s a firecracker,” senior forward and team captain Maddie Nonnenmann said. “We can always count on her to make those. She makes them all the time in practice. She’s just our go-to 3-point shooter when we need a shot like that.”

The 3-pointer, and one just like it by Greiner just 27 seconds earlier, put the Golden Hawks 11 points ahead of West Burlington late in the third quarter. Mid-Prairie went on for a 64-58 victory, locking down a spot in the regional title game for the first time since 2017.

The Golden Hawks (15-8) will play Davenport Assumpton (14-9) for a berth in the state tournament on Saturday at Iowa City West High School. Opening tip is 7 p.m.

Greiner was one of three Mid-Prairie players to score 11 points against West Burlington. Greiner hit three 3-pointers Wednesday and has not missed a 3-pointer in two tournament games, going 5-for-5.

“She really stepped up tonight,” Maddie Nonnenmann said. “We needed her out there. We couldn’t do it without her. She’s our backbone, always got our back.”

Also scoring 11 points were Maddie Nonnenmann and junior forward Landry Pacha. Pacha also had a team-high 6 rebounds.

On a night when sophomore starter Nora Pennington left the game with a possible concussion, the Golden Hawks bench – led by Greiner -- scored 30 points. Maya Nonnenmann, Maddie’s younger sister, had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a pair of steals. Kyrie Reinier scored 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting.

“Just super proud of the effort,” Mid-Prairie head coach Danny Hershberger said. “A total team win. We had a lot of girls step up and make some huge plays for us. Our bench was huge for us tonight. Everyone off the bench contributed a lot to a high level, just super proud of those kids.”

As a team, Mid-Prairie made 53.1% of its shots. But bench players Maya Nonnenmann, Reinier and Greiner shot 92.8%.

Abbey Bence of West Burlington scored a game-high 28 points. Two free throws by Bence pulled the Falcons (16-7) to within four points, 54-50, but a free throw and then a basket by Pacha made it 57-50. Landy had another key basket with 45 seconds left after the Falcons had closed the gap to 59-55.