Mid-Prairie holds off Williamsburg

CEDAR RAPIDS – The free throw line can be an awfully lonely place when a state tournament berth is at stake.Senior Mallory McArtor pulled down a rebound of a missed free throw and sank two of her own with four seconds remaining as Mid-Prairie held off a furious Williamsburg rally, 36-32, in a Class 3A regional final Saturday at Cedar Rapids Prairie.It's the Golden Hawks' first trip to state since 2004.“We've come full circle, you know we took a lot of lumps as freshman and sophomores,” Mid-Prairie coach Marc Pennington said of his nine seniors.  “To get to this point, it's just very gratifying for them.  They deserve it, they paid their dues.”Mid-Prairie was held scoreless until the final minute of the first quarter when senior Erika Murphy's driving shot in the paint got her team going.“Coach always tells us it just takes one shot to get everybody started,” said Murphy, who scored all eight of her points in the first half.  “Once we got that one shot, everybody got it started and they started going in.”With her team trailing 7-6 in the second quarter, Murphy drilled three-pointers on consecutive possessions to start a 13-0 Mid-Prairie run over the final 5:26 of the half.McArtor led Mid-Prairie (18-6) with 10 points, and Jessi Butters added nine.With Mid-Prairie seemingly in control, up 31-19 and just 4:18 away from Des Moines, Williamsburg junior Paige Greiner put on a show.  The Drake commit scored eight of her game-high 18 points during a 10-0 two-minute Raiders' burst, including a 25-footer with 2:14 remaining to pull within 31-29.After two Mariah Swartzentruber free throws with 1:01 left, Greiner responded with a driving layup.  McArtor had a chance to seal it with nine seconds left, but made one of two free throws.  Back at the line five seconds later up 34-32, she made both.“Oh, it's so stressful,” McArtor said of her two clinchers. “Deep breath, follow through, elbow bent, and pray to God it goes in.”Williamsburg ends at 16-8.  Mid-Prairie will face MOC-Floyd-Valley (23-1) in the state quarterfinals at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Feb. 26 at 3:15.