Fillies rally, but come up short

BALDWIN CITY — A familiar bugaboo — a scoring slump — reared its ugly head again for the Iola High Fillies Friday evening.
But unlike their two prior losses this week in the Bulldog-Wildcat Classic, Friday’s 34-28 setback to Anderson County in the tournament’s fifth place game left IHS head coach Becky Carlson encouraged.
“Except for not scoring, we did a good job,” Carlson said.
She expanded further: while the Fillies went extended periods without being able to score, they did not let missed field goals or turnovers have an adverse affect on the defensive end.
“We did a much better job tonight of blocking out and rebounding,” she said. “Our intensity was good.”
The Fillies trimmed a 10-point deficit early in the second half to two on Lexie Long’s 3-pointer with 39 seconds left in the third period. After a pair of Samantha McCullough free throws for Anderson County, Emery Driskel’s basket had the Fillies within 26-24 15 seconds into the fourth period.
But Iola came up empty on its next five possessions, including two turnovers and a pair of near misses by Addie Haar and Emery Driskel.
Meanwhile, Anderson County embarked on a 7-0 run to lead 33-24 with 1:12 left in the game. Ashlie Shields and Hannah Endicott both scored late field goals for Iola, but the Fillies got no closer than the final six-point spread.
“We had several girls step up for us,” Carlson said. “Lexie Long gave us several great minutes off the bench. Emma Piazza locked down on defense against the Scheckel girl.”
Lady Bulldog sophomore standout Paige Scheckel was limited to five points, Carlson noted, in large part because of Piazza’s defense.
“Addie and Emery both got good looks inside,” Carlson said. “We just couldn’t get shots to fall. Hannah Endicott gave us a spark.”
The game went back and fourth into the second quarter before a costly dry spell turned a 14-12 Iola lead into a 24-14 deficit by the midway point of the third period.
Mikaela Platt’s 3-pointer at the 3:53 mark of the third quarter marked Iola’s first points in nearly 10 minutes of game action.
Haar followed with a pair of free throws on Iola’s next possession, followed by Long’s trey to cap the 8-0 spurt.
Platt led Iola with nine points and five rebounds. Haar and Driskel also had five boards each. Piazza and Wade both had three assists. Haar, Long, Piazza and Driskel all had three steals. Platt added two thefts.
McCullough scored 10 points and Maci Rockers seven for the Lady Bulldogs.
In the tournament championship game, host Baldwin edged Louisburg, 37-35. Burlington downed Chanute, 45-30, in the third-place game.
Iola (1-3 overall) returns to action Tuesday at Fredonia.
Anderson Co. (10-10-6-8—34)
Iola (10-4-8-6—28)
Anderson Co. (FG-FT-F-TP): Rockers 3-1-2-7, Porter 2-0-2-4, Jones 0-0-2-0, McCullough 2-6-2-10, Jirak 1-2-2-4, Scheckel 2-1-2-5, Kueser 1-0-1-2, Sutton 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 12-10-14-34.
Iola (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Wade 1-2-3-4, Long 0/1-0-0-3, Moore 0-0-2-0, Piazza 0-0-2-0, Shields 1-0-1-2, Endicott 1-0-2-2, Haar 1-2-2-4, Platt 2/1-2-1-9, Driskel 2-0-3-4, Macha 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 8/2-6-17-28.