Iola Fillies head coach Becky Carlson didn’t pull any punches when describing Tuesday’s 50-45 loss to Prairie View.
“You can’t blame standing around, throwing bad passes, and those kinds of things on the referee,” Carlson said. “It wasn’t the referee’s fault we didn’t win this game. We weren’t smart.”
After a three-game winning streak, including a win over No.10 in class 4A Chanute, the Fillies have flipped the script.
“I thought we should win this one, but we just didn’t execute very well,” Carlson said.
Prairie View held a 12-7 edge after the first quarter, but in the second, the Fillies awoke. Becca Sprague hit Kelsey Morrison and Elysia Kunkler on two quick cutters to the rim, and Lauryn Holloway knocked down both free throws, giving Iola the one-point edge.
Later in the period Morrison caught fire, connecting from 3-point land and converting two tough contested layups. She led the Fillies with 17 points on the night.
“I think probably the exclamation on her performance was when she dove — I don’t know how far — and took the ball out of another girl’s hands on a rebound,” Carlson said.
Lauryn Holloway fired from long range, giving Iola its largest lead at 25-18. The Fillies led 25-20 at the half, but couldn’t take control in the third quarter.
The Buffaloes battled their way to even the score at 28-28. Josie Plumlee brought needed energy off the Filly bench, scoring five points to help Iola regain its five-point lead, but once again Prairie View responded. The Buffaloes evened the score heading into the fourth at 33-33.
Becca Sprague received a technical foul after the stop-and-pop deuce from Plumlee. The Buffaloes hit 1 of 2 technical free throws, and added another pair of charities on the ensuing possession to take a 44-41 lead. 
The Fillies didn’t go away quietly, and inched within one after Kunkler knocked down a pair of free throws. After the basket, Ella Taylor collected a strip-steal, and pushed the ball forward to Kunkler, who mishandled it on her way to the rim, turning possession back over to Prairie View. But the Buffs then handed the back ball right back to Iola after an inbound violation with less than a minute remaining.
Kunkler received an open look for a corner trey, but couldn’t knock it down, forcing the Fillies to foul. Prairie View stayed steady at the line in the final minutes while the Fillies couldn’t convert from the field to stay alive.
The Fillies defeated Prairie View earlier in the season 51-45, but appeared to show signs of regression in Tuesday’s loss.
“We are just going to have to figure it out,” Carlson said. “Even though we didn’t win, and it wasn’t pretty, we played really hard. The effort is always there, but right now the mental effort is not where I want it to be.”
Iola hosts another Pioneer League opponent on Friday in Anderson County. The Fillies lost 54-37 last time around against the Bulldogs, and will be keen to get one over their league rivals.
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