Fredonia holds off Fillies charge

After taking their early lumps this season, Iola High’s Fillies have shown signs of steady improvement.
On Tuesday, Iola showed plenty of grit and determination by cutting what had been a 14-point lead by Fredonia High to five in the early stages of the fourth quarter.
The Yellowjackets’ standout guard Shannon Tindle, alas, was there to answer Iola’s charge, scoring Fredonia’s next six points and spearheading some key defensive stops in a 39-30 win.
Iola’s offense, which had found its groove earlier in the half, sputtered down the stretch. By the time the Fillies’ Libby Shay scored inside with just under two minutes left the game, Fredonia had pushed the lead back to nine points.
Still, Iola coach Becky Carlson said the Fillies put forth perhaps their steadiest performance of the season.
“I liked our aggressiveness tonight,” Carlson said. “Tonight, it looked like the girls were starting to play with a purpose. Before now, they’d been afraid of making mistakes. There wasn’t nearly as much hesitation in their play.”
Leading the second-half charge for Iola were a pair of sophomores, starter Emery Driskel and reserve Jo Lohman. The duo combined to score eight points in an 11-3 Fillies run to pare a 28-15 deficit to 31-26 with 5:56 left in the game. Kyra Moore’s 3-pointer with about 20 seconds left in the third quarter started the rally.
Tindle responded for the Yellowjackets, coming out of a timeout with a driving layup. Iola turned the ball over on its next two possessions — a theme for the evening — and Tindle’s off-balance runner put the lead at 35-26 at the 3:49 mark.
Shay scored inside for Iola to trim the deficit to seven, but four straight missed free throws by the Fillies in the last two minutes, coupled with two successful charities by Tindle, put the game out of reach.
Hannah Endicott, Addie Haar and Driskel scored baskets for Iola in a nip-and-tuck first quarter with Fredonia holding an 11-6 lead. Lohman’s bucket inside for the Fillies dropped just before the buzzer sounded to cut the gap to 11-8.
Iola had 39 turnovers in the contest, including a large proportion early in the second quarter as Fredonia opened the period with an 8-0 run, the last six courtesy of Tindle, to lead 19-8.
Emma Sigg and Lohman helped end the run with baskets of their own, and Iola’s Emma Piazza drained a 3-pointer with 1:46 left in the half to pull Iola back within single digits, 23-15.
Fredonia held a 25-15 lead at the break.
Lohman came off the bench to pace Iola with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Driskel scored six points. Iola shot 52 percent from the field (14 of 27) but did not make a free throw in the contest.
Tindle scored a game-high 21 points for the Yellowjackets. Shelby Baker scored nine.
Iola’s junior varsity defeated Fredonia 44-16.
Lohman and Sigg shared high-scoring honors for the Fillies JV with nine points each. Mikaela Platt scored eight and Ashlie Shields and Haar had six points each. Driskel, Paige Miller and Taylor Sell each had two points.
Iola (0-5) returns to action next Tuesday at home against Chanute.
Fredonia (11-14-6-8—39)
Iola (8-7-5-10—30)
Fredonia (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Tindle 7/1-4-0-21, Baker 4-1-2-9, Shay 3-0-1-6, Couch 1-0-2-2, Plummer 0-0-1-0, Van Leeuwen 0-1-0-1. TOTALS: 15/1-6-6-39.
Iola (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Moore 0/1-0-1-3, Piazza 0/1-0-0-3, Lohman 5-0-1-10, Shay 1-0-3-2, Ford 0-0-2-0, Endicott 1-0-1-2, Haar 1-0-2-2, Driskel 3-0-1-6. TOTALS: 12/2-0-12-30.