LA CYGNE — After scuffling on offense for much of the game — scoring only four points at halftime — Iola High’s Fillies made the shots when they were needed most.
Iola’s 30-27 win Friday over host Prairie View came the hard way. The Fillies never led until Ashlie Shields converted a steal and layup to give Iola a 28-26 lead with 30 seconds left in the game.
Prairie View’s Kammie Davis hit a free throw with 14 seconds remaining to cut Iola’s lead to one. She missed the second, however, forcing the Buffalos to foul Sydney Wade after the Fillies corralled the rebound.
Wade — who missed badly on a pair of charities moments earlier — was true on both the second time around, to push Iola up by three.
Davis’ 3-point attempt was off the mark as the buzzer sounded.
“We did a great job of coming back,” Fillies head coach Becky Carlson said. “One of the things we preach is that even when shots aren’t falling, the girls continue to do well in other areas. They stuck with it and didn’t panic.”
Take, for example, Iola’s Emery Driskel and Addie Haar. Driskel was scoreless through the first half before scoring 10 points in the third and fourth quarter to spearhead the comeback. Haar, meanwhile, was only 2 of 7 from the field, but she remained active inside and on defense. Both Driskel and Haar had eight rebounds.
“Emery really did a nice job of going strong to the basket,” Carlson said. The other key was only having 14 turnovers. You’re going to win a lot of games with only 14 turnovers.”
Offense was hard to find in the early going for both teams before Prairie View’s Brittney Diehm got hot, scoring nine of the Lady Buffalos’ 10 points in the first quarter.
Iola was scoreless until junior reserve Jo Lohman drained a field goal five minutes into the mark. Lexie Long followed a short while later, cutting Prairie View’s lead to 6-4 at the 1-minute mark of the quarter.
Diehm scored the last four points of the quarter to push Prairie View’s lead to 10-4.
That was it as both teams struggled with cold shooting and turnovers until Prairie View’s Kaylee Waterman hit a pair of free throws with 1:47 left in the half. Jodie Hazalet’s field goal with five seconds left in the half — the only bucket for either team in the period — pushed the lead to double digits, 14-4.
Driskel scored four points early in the third quarter before Toni Macha scored twice in the last minute, including a buzzer-beater that pulled the Fillies to within 16-14.
Prairie View twice extended its lead to four points in the fourth quarter before Driskel scored twice to tie the proceedings at 26-26 with a minute remaining. A Buffalo turnover led to Wade’s missed free throws. The teams twice traded empty possessions until Shields’ critical steal gave Iola the lead for good.
Wade, Lexie Long and Macha each added four points for the Fillies.
Diehm wound up with 11 for Prairie View, but only two after the first quarter.
“Emma Piazza did a great job, and then we rotated Ashlie Shields and Sydney Wade on her in the fourth quarter,” Carlson said. “I think we wore her out because were able to keep putting fresh legs on her.”
Iola (5-4 overall; 3-0 in Pioneer League play) heads to the Burlington Invitational Tournament Tuesday to take on the host Wildcats. Tipoff is at 6:40 p.m. in the high school gymnasium. The semifinal will be at 6:40 p.m. Friday against either Santa Fe Trail or Labette County. The final round is next Saturday.
Iola (4-0-10-16—30)
Prairie View (10-4-2-11—27)
Iola (FG-FT-F-TP): Piazza 1-0-1-2, Endicott 0-0-2-0, Haar 1-0-3-2, Platt 0-0-2-0, Driskel 4-2-3-10, Wade 1-2-3-4, Long 1-0-1-2, Lohman 1-0-0-2, Macha 2-0-2-4, Moore 1-0-0-2. TOTALS:
Prairie View (FG-FT-F-TP): Peek 1-0-1-2, Brown 0-0-2-0, Hazelet 1-0-1-2, Halaquest 1-4-3-6, Diehm 4-3-3-11, Boone 2-0-2-4, Davis 0-0-3-0, Waterman 0-2-2-2, Davis 0-2-2-2. TOTALS: 8-11-18-27.
Fillies storm back to stun Buffalos
