BURLINGTON — To see how much Iola High’s girls have improved, one need look no further than the first quarter of Tuesday night’s contest with undefeated Burlington High.
To see just how good Burlington can be, on the other hand, one need look no further than the second quarter.
While Iola battled Burlington to a near draw for much of the first quarter, the top-ranked Wildcats asserted their defensive dominance in the latter stages of the first half, outscoring the Fillies 33-0 at one point.
Burlington’s 65-11 victory in the opening round of Burlington’s Midseason Tournament pushes Iola into the consolation bracket.
Iola will take on fourth-seeded Paola at 6:40 p.m. Friday in the Burlington Middle School gymnasium in semifinal action. A win there will put the Fillies in the fifth-place game at 3:10 p.m. Saturday at the middle school. A loss would relegate the Fillies to the seventh-place game at noon Saturday, also in the middle school.
“Burlington made us look bad, but they make everybody look bad,” Fillies coach Becky Carlson said. “I thought we did a better job of handling the ball than we have been.”
Unlike their earlier matchup in December — one in which the Wildcats scored the game’s first 37 points — Iola entered Tuesday’s contest with a more composed plan of attack.
Sure enough, Iola sophomore Emery Driskel drained a short jumper to give the Fillies a quick 2-0 lead. Hannah Endicott followed about a minute later with a putback to put Iola on top 4-2.
Burlington took the lead for good at the 4:55 mark of the quarter on a pair of Madison Stewart free throws, but Iola had not emptied its bag of tricks just yet.
A long pass over Burlington’s stifling full-court press led to a Jo Lohman layup, cutting Burlington’s lead to 8-6.
That’s when the tables turned.
Malorie Wagner scored for the Wildcats inside, and a pair of Wildcat steals led to five Stewart points by the end of the quarter.
Burlington’s defense was in full attack mode from there.
The Wildcats opened a double-digit lead seconds into the second quarter, then a 20-point cushion by the 5-minute mark.
Makayla Cole’s basket with 25 seconds left in the half put Burlington on top 41-6.
Endicott scored on Iola’s first possession of the third quarter, then Lexie Long added a free throw and basket midway through the period before Burlington closed the game with a 12-0 run.
“We’re getting better, but this is a slow process,” Carlson said. “Their pressure is quite effective when they can set up from made shots. But I thought Emery played a good ball game for us, and Emma played well. There’s no quit in these girls. I’m proud of their effort.”
Endicott led Iola with four points, Long had three and Lohman and Driskel both had two. Driskel also had five rebounds, a blocked shot and two assists.
Haley Gilman scored 18 points, Stewart had 17 and Breanna Bluma had 10 for the Wildcats.
Iola will face Paola, which dropped a 47-42 decision to fifth-seed Sabetha. In other first round matches, Pittsburg defeated Labette County 41-31 and Santa Fe Trail defeated Rossville 52-15.
Iola (6-0-5-0—11)
Burlington (15-26-19-5—65)
Iola (FG-FT-F-TP): Long 1-1-0-3, Moore 0-0-4-0, Piazza 0-0-3-0, Lohman 1-0-0-2, Endicott 2-0-3-4, Driskel 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 5-1-11-11.
Burlington (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Gilman 9-0-0-18, Stadel 0-2-3-2, Pearson 2-0-1-4, Bluma 3/1-1-2-10, Dorcas 1-0-1-2, Cole 3-0-0-6, O’Conner 0-4-0-4, Wagner 1-0-0-2, Kirchner 0-0-1-0, Stewart 6/1-2-3-17. TOTALS: 25/2-7-11-65.
Second-quarter drought thwarts Fillies
