The Iola girls really wanted this one. They want all of them, of course, but coming off a 40-point drubbing by Burlington, they wanted to get a win over a winless Prairie View to help get them back on track.
They did just that, taking their first Pioneer League victory of the season, beating the Buffalos 37-35 to move to 2-3 on the season and 1-1 in league play.
“Our girls have been working so hard in practice,” Iola assistant coach Kelsey Larson said. “Especially rebounding, free throws and our defense and those are the things that saved us. We were hitting free throws early and that carried through.”
Prairie View came out physical and reckless early and managed to put Iola in the bonus before the first quarter ended. The Fillies scored 17 points in the first quarter and 10 of them were from the line.
Part of that was due to the Buffalos fouling but the other part was that Iola could not get anything going offensively long enough to run its offense.
“The girls get ahead of themselves a little bit,” Larson said. “So we just had to slow them down a little bit and have them check their passes.”
The Buffalos were potent from behind the arc, hitting three threes in the first half to carry them to a 20-17 lead headed into the break.
The Fillies came out of the half strong, especially defensively, holding Prairie View to just three points in the third quarter, inching their way to a two-point lead headed into the fourth.
After tying it up, an old-fashioned three-point play from the Buffalos put them out front by three but soon after, a three from junior Madisyn Holloway tied up leading fellow juniors Ellie Carson and Piper Moore to continue answering Prairie View’s shots up until the very end.
Moore had a season-high 12 points and Carson had her second-straight double-digit game scoring 11 in her second straight start.
“She can find the ball,” Larson said. “Whether she’s on offense or on defense, when someone shoots it she’s right there to get the rebound. She’s been working really hard and fighting for that spot.”
The Fillies will play one final game before winter break but it’s a doozy. Defending 4A-II State Champions Girard come to town on Monday.
“We have to continue to work on boxing out and defense, defense, defense,” Larson said. “That’s our biggest thing right now. We just have to look at them as any other team, not as state champions. We’re going to be on our home floor which helps us out. Getting our first win on our home floor tonight helps.”
Iola (12-5-8-12—37) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Moore 1/2-4-2-12, Carson 4-0-3-2-11, Holloway 1/2-0-2-8, Bauer 0/0-2-2-2, Riley 0/0-2-0-2, Sutterby 0/0-2-3-2. TOTALS: 6/4-13-16-35.
Prairie View (12-8-3-12—35) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Walker 5/2-0-4-16, Kellerman 4/0-5-4-13, Aust 0/3-0-3-3, Davis 1/0-0-0-2, Brown 0/0-1-2-0, Kirkpatrick 0/0-0-3-0. TOTALS: 10/3-6-16-35.
Picture — Fillies junior Ellie Carson speeds down the court after a steal in Iola’s 37-35 win over Prairie View on Friday. REGISTER/TIMOTHY EVERSON
