CARBONDALE — Every game isn’t going to be a work of art and Iola coach Becky Carlson likely won’t be making any highlight tapes based on Tuesday’s 28-26 win over Santa Fe Trail.
However, the key word in the previous statement is “win” and that is exactly what the Fillies did on Tuesday night in Carbondale.
“A win is a win,” Iola senior Toni Macha said. “I was really happy to end up on that side of it.”
In fact, the win marked the third straight for Carlson’s crew and they improved their league record to 4-1 after winning four straight league games (five if you count a win over Prairie View in the Burlington Invitational).
So does only scoring 28 points bother Carlson? Not really, because they gave up only 26.
“It is a great win for us. Like I told (my players), ‘This is a win, we are 8-5. We could’ve been 7-6, but we are 8-5 and nobody needs to know but us,’” Carlson said referring to the close score.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Chargers took a 24-20 lead and things looked bleak for the Fillies, but their veteran playmakers weren’t going to allow Iola to drop this one.
Macha quickly scored off an assist from junior Macayla Bycroft, then senior point guard Sydney Wade came up with a steal and took it coast-to-coast to tie the game.
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Santa Fe Trail answered to take a 26-24 lead, but Macha had found a rhythm and her teammates kept feeding her.
“We saw that she was on a roll so we were going to give it to her when she was open,” Iola senior Riley Murry said. “She really helped us tonight.”
Macha scored to tie it back up and the Fillies quickly got a steal off of their press and got it to Macha again, who was fouled.
Macha calmly knocked down a pair of foul shots and gave her team a lead with 48 ticks left in the game.
Iola junior Colbi Riley forced a steal on the next possession, but Iola was called for an illegal screen and the ball was awarded back to Santa Fe Trail.
The Chargers missed their shot though, and Riley grabbed the board before being fouled.
The Iola guard missed the front-end of a one-and-one, but Macha got the offensive rebound.
