Fillies fend off Lady Bulldogs

Iola High’s Fillies were cruising along here Friday night. They had put together three very strong quarters.
The Fillies had an 18-point lead over the visiting Independence High Lady Bulldogs with 25 seconds left in the third quarter. The Lady Bulldogs had plenty of bite left in them.
It took baseline drive to the basket with three defenders on her by Kendra Taiclet to give Iola it’s fourth win of the season. Taiclet’s basket came with 18.7 seconds left in the game putting the Fillies up 45-44.
Then it was up to the Fillies’ defense. After a timeout by Independence, the Lady Bulldogs had hot-handed Kelby McGrath go for their final shot.
McGrath backed into the lane. Iola’s defense never allowed her to face the basket for a clean shot and she tossed it up over her shoulder. Iola got the basketball.
Kayla Callahan, who led all scorers in the game with 16 points, went to the free-throw line for Iola with 3.5 seconds on the clock. She missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Lady Bulldogs rebounded the ball and called a timeout.
They had three seconds to go the length of the court. It took them one second to go to mid-court on the inbounds play and call another timeout.
This time it was Kayla Steinle putting up a contested shot from way outside at the buzzer. It was short.
“Tonight, we had someone really push us when we had a big lead. The bottom line is we have figured out how to win,” said Becky Carlson, Fillies’ head coach.
“They made a big run at us and took the lead away. Our girls had what it took to win this game.”
The victory put the Fillies at 4-2 going into the Christmas break.
“That sounds pretty good,” Carlson said. “That is a  good team we beat tonight.”
The Fillies opened the game with back-to-back baskets by Taiclet and Maggie Wilson. The went up 7-2 when Kelsey Larson drilled a three-pointer.
But that was countered by a trey from McGrath, who hit four of the team’s five threes on the night.  On Wilson’s third basket of the period, the Fillies led 16-11 at the conclusion.
McGrath banked in a three with 5:54 left in the second period to make it 16-14. Larson netted a trey for Iola then the Fillies went inside to Callahan for four straight points.
The Fillies pushed to a 24-16 halftime advantage. They didn’t let up coming out of the locker room either.
Callahan and Taiclet  each had a bucket and Larson hit one of two free throws to make it 29-16 by the 5:14 mark. Iola had outscored Independence 15-5 for the 39-21 lead.
The Lady Bulldogs would score the final three points of the third quarter. They opened the fourth with a basket by Makenzie Vining.
Independence came out of a timeout using a full-court man-to-man defense. It worked as the Lady Bulldogs scored 13 unanswered points.
The Fillies broke the run with a jumper from Callahan to make it 41-34 at the 3:51 mark. Taiclet came up with basketball and Iola pushed the ball up the court. Callahan scored.
It looked like Iola had weathered the storm. But the Lady Bulldogs kept coming on two baskets by Anna Hignight and a three-point play by Sandi Wilson.
The margin was two points, 43-41 with 1:27 left. Iola turned the ball over in a scramble for a loose basketball.
McGrath nailed a three-pointer with 52 seconds left to give Independence its only lead of the night, 44-43.
“We called the timeout and set up a play. Kendra went right to basket and got the ball in. We figured they’d have McGrath take the final shot but not a three. We just didn’t want to foul her,” Carlson said of the final flurry of action in the game.
“We switched up defenses from man-to-man to zone pretty effectively at the end.”
The Fillies shot 59 percent, 17 of 32, from the field. In a clean game with only 18 total fouls, Iola was 5 of 10 from the free-throw line while Independence went 3 of 5.
Taiclet had 14 points to add to Callahan’s 16. Taiclet also had nine of the teams 29 rebounds and three of its 10 steals.
Callahan had six rebounds. Wilson and Taiclet each had two assists. Iola had 12 turnovers in the game.
“We have different players stepping up each game. I’m tickled with the way we played tonight,” said Carlson, who was given a plaque before the game to commemorate her 400th career coaching win which came in the season opener at Osawatomie. She now has 403 wins.
Independence won the junior varsity game 44-19. Lisa McFadden scored nine points for Iola.
In the freshman game, Independence won 67-9. Chay Hutton had four points for Iola.
Iola plays at home Jan. 4 against Anderson County before spending the rest of January on the road.
Iola (16-8-15-6—45) (FG/3-pt): Larson 0/2-3-2-9, Taiclet 7-0-0-14, Wilson 3-0-0-6, Callahan 7-2-3-16, McGuffin 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 17/2-5-7-45.
Independence (11-5-8-20—44) (FG/3-pt): McGrath 1/4-1-1-15, Steinle 2-1-1-5, Vining 4-0-1-8, Sutton 2-0-1-4 Wilson 2-1-1-5, K. Hignight 0-0-1-0, A. Hignight 2/1-0-2-7, Mundy 1-0-1-2, Flanigan 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 14/5-3-11-44.