WELLMAN

It was a devastating loss for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks.

Up 36-29 in the fourth quarter, the Hawks needed to score a few more points, control rebounds and maintain pressure to finish on top. But the Wilton Beavers had other plans, mounting a comeback to win 42-41.

And the ending was chaotic. Tied at 39 with three minutes to go, sophomore Jovi Evans found herself alone in the offensive zone for an easy layup to give the Hawks a two-point lead.

Wilton eventually answered with a three-point-shot to give them the one-point lead.

Now, with 10 seconds left, Evans streaked down the court, going for the layup that rolled right back out of the net, preventing the go-ahead points.

But Mid-Prairie maintained possession and had one more shot for a walk off win. The Hawks executed a perfect pass to senior Nora Pennington who was wide open. She passed inside to junior Callie Huber who passed it back to Pennington who was unable as players on both teams collided.

The collision resulted in a whistle with what seemed to be one second left on the clock. Wilton celebrated while Mid-Prairie pushed the referees to put time back on the clock. But after a huddled discussion by officials, they ruled the game over.

With the loss, Mid-Prairie fell to 8-7. They’ll travel to Washington on Monday, Jan. 29, for their next assignment.  

Pick up a copy of The News, dated Feb. 1, for the complete story.