The Fillies learned the hard way what happens when you don’t play the full 36 minutes of a game Tuesday night in their 44-36 loss to Santa Fe Trail.
Iola was ahead for the majority of the game and had a five-point lead at one point during the third quarter. The Chargers whittled that down to one at the end of the quarter but the game had been close throughout and the Fillies still seemed in control.
With 4:58 left in the game, Santa Fe Trail took their first lead at 35-34 to start what ended up being a 13-0 run in the span of just two minutes. The Chargers never looked back.
“I feel like we played 32 minutes of great basketball,” Iola head coach Becky Carlson said. “But there were four where we panicked. We weren’t as aggressive in the press break, we threw the ball to the middle and turned it over. It was like when we got ahead, we were afraid of doing what we’d been doing because it was working.”
The loss is the Fillies fifth in six tries and the second of the last three to be a less than 10-point defeat.
“We just have to learn how to win,” Carlson said. “I know we’ve had games in these situations and they’ve ended in the same way and when you step back and look at it, you can say we played a great game. But great doesn’t mean much if you don’t win. We want to win. It’s discouraging when you don’t.”
No one from Iola scored in double-digits but senior Colbi Riley and juniors Madisyn Holloway and Ellie Carson each scored nine points in the loss.
Meanwhile, Santa Fe Trail had two players score 18 points while no one else had more than five.
The loss moves Iola to 4-9 this season.
Up next, the Fillies host Burlington, a team that ranks third in Class 4A-II. The Wildcats beat Iola by 45 when they played in Burlington on Dec. 12.
“We played them early and I’m sure they’ve gotten better but so have we,” Carlson said. “We’re starting to do some good things so we need to just keep going. That’s all we can do.”
Junior Varsity and Freshmen Results
The junior varsity girls beat Santa Fe Trail 33-30. Gabby Richards led the Fillies with eight points and Shaylee Sutterby had seven points.The freshmen girls lost to the Lady Chargers 23-18. Hannah Gardner had seven points in the loss.
Box Scores
Iola (9-9-11-7—36) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Carson 3/0-3-2-9, Holloway 2/1-2-5-9, Riley 1/0-5-4-9, Gardner 1/1-0-0-5, Bauer 0/0-0-2-2, Morrison 1/0-0-2-2, Sutterby 0/0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 8/2-12-17-36.
Santa Fe Trail (8-6-14-16—44) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Johnson 4/1-7-1-18, Simmons 3/2-6-2-18, Honeyman 1/1-0-2-5, Massey 1/0-0-4-2, Turner 0/0-1-1-1. TOTALS 9/4-14-14-44.
