LA CYGNE — The Iola High School Mustangs head into the Christmas break in high spirits after trampling the Prairie View Buffalos 47-24 Thursday night.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Iola and gave the Mustangs their first Pioneer League victory under first-year Coach Emily Sigg.
“I said, ‘That’s all I want for Christmas,’” Sigg said she told the girls. After the recent losses against a trio of state-ranked teams, “Getting a win like this can send some waves throughout the league.”
Freshman Haidyn Desmarteau’s 25-point performance was crucial to the Mustangs’ win.
Iola junior Zoie Hesse got Iola started in the first quarter by driving in 11 of her 14-point contribution.
“We really had a good chance of winning, so I was just trying to get everybody up,” Hesse said.
With the Buffalos shifting their focus to stopping Hesse, a forward, it opened the court for the sharpshooting Desmarteau.
With a combination of jumpers, drives and easy layups on mid-court steals, Desmarteau racked up 8 points in the first half, with an impressive 13 points in the third quarter.
“I’m very aggressive, even if we’re winning by a lot,” Desmarteau said. “That comforts our coach a little bit. I know she stresses out a lot.”
Also lighting up the scoreboard was junior guard Brooklyn Holloway with a pair of 3-pointers, and a couple of points from freshman post Cameron Wille.
Flying under the radar was the quiet but solid play of Iola’s defense, which held Prairie View in the single digits for quarterly production with just 9 points in the second half.
With the win, the Mustangs improved to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the Pioneer League. After six games in the past two weeks, Sigg said the Mustangs will get a well-deserved break.
“They will get the next week off, just to rest their bodies a little bit,” Sigg said.
“We’ve been telling them, ‘We know you’re young, and a lot of you are freshmen, but we expect a lot.’ We’re going to keep pushing them. Over Christmas break, we will work on what we can do to get a little better every game.”
