Strong defensive play and consistent scoring from all areas of the court provided the Iola Mustangs a 52-36 victory over Prairie View Tuesday. Holding Prairie View to single digits in the first, third and fourth quarters, Iola got some distance on the scoreboard. Three Mustangs reached double-digits in scoring.
The win snaps a four-game losing streak.
“It’s nice to get a win, because we haven’t won in a while and these are the games you worry about,” Iola coach Emily Sigg said.
“We beat them by 20 the last time we played them, and we’ve gotten better but so have they. We locked in and talked about our attitude and effort. We struggled with it in December and now we’ve mastered it in February.”
Although winning by nearly 20 points, the action did not begin until the second half. Freshman Haidyn Desmarteau got Iola rolling on a trio of field goals while free-throws by freshman center Cameron Wille and junior forward Zoie Hesse put Iola over the top for an 11-8 lead after the first quarter.
“We’ve all been working at this win,” Desmarteau said. “We’re getting toward the end of the season and we’re working toward the same thing: getting more league wins. We all have to give 100% effort to get that.”
Hesse continued having a hot hand at the free-throw line, netting 4 of 6 attempts along with a field goal. Three-pointers by junior guard Brooklyn Holloway and Desmarteau gave Iola some breathing room as they went into halftime with a 27-23 lead.
Prairie View rallied with an 11-point fourth quarter, but a pair of Holloway 3-pointers slammed the door shut on any ideas of the Buffalos coming away with a victory.
“When I shoot and miss, I’ll get down on myself and I won’t shoot,” Holloway said. “Tonight, I told myself they’re going to fall. I made them all in warmups, so they’re going to fall in the game. I just kept my elbow tucked, and my wrist, and they were falling tonight.”
Hesse ended the night with a team-leading 17 points, followed by Desmarteau with 16, Holloway with 13 and Wille knocking down six free throws. With the win, the Mustangs improved to 5-15 overall and 3-7 in the Pioneer League with games against Anderson County and Wellsville left on the schedule, who Coach Sigg believes the Mustangs can beat.
“One win a week is not enough for me, and they’re bought in,” Sigg said. “We’ve talked about league, how we move up and what we need to get there. Our goal is to win for the rest of the year.”
Finishing in the middle of the pack in the Pioneer League would seem like a down year to some programs. For Iola, with only three upperclassmen on their roster, Sigg believes a few late season wins would be a sign of great things to come for the IHS girls basketball program.
“A lot of us have the same record in league right now, but it looks like we’re at the bottom because of our overall record,” Sigg said. “Right now, we should be at the bottom if you look at our experience, but they have so much talent. They work hard and we’re in the middle. We can build on that and, next year, we’ll be at the top.”
