Mid-Prairie Girls Battle MOC-Valley 2013

MURPHY, MCARTOR, SWARTZENTRUBER, PENNINGTON, RICHARDSON, CONAWAY, REDLINGER, BUTTERS

Posted By: Mistina Christner (email)
Date: 7/11/2018 at 11:19:02

Source: Kalona News 2/28/2013

Mid-Prairie Girls Battle MOC-Valley
By Tim Groff

Lady Golden Hawks finish vs. Dutch, 51-30

The M-P girls basketball team has wrapped up their season with a first-round State Tournament loss to the MOC-Floyd Valley Dutch, 51-30.
It was a tough first-quarter that put the M-P girls behind the eight ball. They watched Floyd Valley take a 16-5 lead after one, as they got the ball spread around to five different players during their run.
That early run would prove too much for the M-P girls to overcome. They trimmed the MOC lead to six with free throws by Erika Murphy and Mallory McArtor followed by a deuce by Mariah Swartzentruber with 5:49 to play in the second quarter, 16-10, but the Dutch pushed ahead again, getting up to 20-10 before the Lady Golden Hawks could respond.
MOC led by 10 at halftime, 25-15. "They're a complete team obviously," said MP head coach Marc Pennington of the Dutch. "Whenever we got ourselves somewhat close they seemed to hit a big shot or get a big offensive rebound. Good luck to them. They obviously played well today."
The M-P girls didn't take their loss laying down. Coach Pennington said he knows his team was still within striking distance, and headed into the fourth quarter his team trailed by just nine.
"We were fortunate to be down by just ten," said Pennington. "We thought we were within striking distance the whole way, even going into the fourth quarter down nine. I thought considering how we'd played I was OK with that. We've come from behind all year on numerous occasions. So we thought we had a shot, but you have to play so perfect when you're playing a team like that."
MOC-Floyd Valley head coach Gary Richardson said sometimes his team struggled against the stingy M-P defense.
"They played just like we did. To win. They were scrappy, and everything we went up and got they contested and they came at us in the passing lanes and we struggled with that," said Richardson. "That's a credit to them for playing as hard as they did. They play that one-three-one darn good and we tried to get people in the right spots and they were getting in our way."
Key to the MOC success was junior guard Alexis Conaway who averages over eighteen points per game.
"She's good. We respected that, but there were times we lost where she was for boxing out and she got some offensive rebounds and put them back in," said M-P senior Mariah Swartzentruber after her team's loss.
Senior Mallory McArtor said she was tough to stay with on the court.
"She was very athletic. She's tall and can jump and lengthy. I tried to stick with her and we guarded her pretty well but she could just go right around us," said McArtor.
Pennington said his team hasn't seen someone with Conaway's size, 6"0', who could move with the ball as well as she did.
"We hadn't seen anyone with her size and ability to move with the ball like that," said Pennington. "Our kids played hard and I though we competed for 32. They're a good team. Tip your hats to them they're very good."
The M-P girls trailed through the fourth quarter as the Dutch extended their lead from the free throw line, finishing up 51-30.
Conaway led all scorers with 17 points, and snagged 11 rebounds (4 offensive) in the MOC win.
The Lady Golden Hawks were led by Mallory McArtor who netted 10 points on a 3-6 shooting from the field and a 4-7 free-throw shooting effort. Erika Murphy scored nine points on 2-7 shooting from the field and 5-6 from the free throw line. Mariah Swartzentruber netted four, Kattie Redlinger scored three, and teammates Meghan Redlinger and Jess Butters scored two points a piece.
Coach Pennnington said it was a special trip for his crew of M-P seniors.
"Including our managers there's twelve of them in there and what they've meant to our program on and off the floor is so special. They're a very, very special group," said Pennington.
Swartzentruber said it was a great atmosphere to come to Des Moines with the Golden Hawk fans.
"It's pretty awesome. You walk in out of the tunnel and you see the fans and you get such a big smile on your face," said Swartzentruber.
"All four years of basketball this is the most exciting thing," said McArtor of her team's trip to Des Moines. "It ended too soon but not just for me, for the whole team, all the seniors who came, it was the most exciting."