COLUMBUS — Defense is in place. Effort is there.
Offense — consistent offense has escaped Iola High’s Fillies this season. Hot and cold surges again Friday in their third game of the week doomed the Fillies on the road.
The Fillies battled back from a 12-point deficit to tie the game at 28-28. They never could get the go-ahead basket and Columbus High’s Lady Titans did.
Columbus defeated Iola 40-33 in Southeast Kansas League play Friday. The Fillies fell to 2-9 in SEK play and 4-11 overall.
Iola is at home next week with Chanute coming to town on Tuesday then Parsons comes in on Friday for the IHS homecoming games.
“We played hard but it’s tough to play three games in four days. We didn’t have our legs under us, especially on free throws,” said Becky Carlson, Fillies’ head coach.
“Both teams show marked improvement since the beginning of the season. Columbus used a good zone defense and we had trouble with it.”
Iola had two big scoring lulls. One stretched from about midway in the first quarter to just over six minutes left in the second period. Then after clawing back in the game, a seven-minute span late in the third and into the fourth period.
The Fillies forged a 4-4 tie on two baskets by Kayla Callahan only to see the Lady Titans bolt to a 15-4 lead by the end of the first quarter. Iola didn’t get its offense started again until the 6:15-mark of the second quarter.
Faulhaber connected countered by a basket from Kaitlyn Vanatta. Honeycutt scored then Taiclet stole the basketball and laid it in.
It was 17-10 midway through the second period. Columbus had a 6-1 run. The Fillies battled back with back-to-back baskets by Shelby Greenwood and Kirstin McGuffin.
The teams traded baskets down the stretch. Taiclet and McGuffin scoring for Iola to make it 26-18 at halftime.
Callahan and Faulhaber kick-started the Fillies’ offense coming out of intermission. Paige Fletcher hit two free throws for Columbus to make it 28-22.
Jazmyne Honeycutt nailed a three-pointer for the Fillies. She made a steal, missed the shot and committed her fourth foul with 4:26 left. Honeycutt, who ended up with eight points but fouled out at the 2:53-mark of the fourth quarter.
It was Faulhaber netting a three-pointer with under three minutes left in the third to tie the game at 28-28. Then Iola went dormant again.
Free throw shooting played a big role the game. The Fillies hit 4 of 14 while the Lady Titans tossed in 13 of 22 tries.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Columbus led 31-28. Seven of the Lady Titans’ nine points in the final eight minutes came from the charity stripe.
Iola got a three-pointer from Honeycutt then she fouled out with 2:43 left. Larson and Faulhaber each had a free throw.
“Physically, the effort was good but we weren’t mentally sharp tonight. But we have five more games left and next week we’re home for two games,” Carlson said.
“We’re in games that we wouldn’t be in earlier this year.”
Faulhaber shared scoring honors with Honeycutt with eight points. Carlson said Faulhaber “looked for her shot and had one of her best offensive games.”
Iola shot 28 percent, 13 of 46, from the field. Columbus went 13 of 41, 32 percent, from the field.
Vanatta came off the bench to lead all scorers with 11 points. Anderson had nine points.
Iola won the junior varsity game 46-26 led by McGuffin and Tony Taylor with eight points apiece.
There was no freshman game.
Iola (4-14-10-5—33) (FG/3-pt): Faulhaber 2/1-1-2-8, Larson 0-1-3-1, Taiclet 2-1-1-5, Taylor 0-0-1-0, Greenwood 1-0-2-2, Honeycutt 1/2-0-5-8, Callahan 3-0-2-6, McGuffin 1-1-4-3. TOTALS: 10/3-4-20-33.
Columbus (15-11-5-9—40) (FG/3-pt): Vanatta 5-1-1-11, R. Soper 0-0-1-0, Hamilton 1-0-3-2, Overman 1/1-2-3-7, Crain 1-3-3-5, Roberts 0-1-2-1, Fletcher 0-5-1-5, Anderson 4-1-4-9. TOTALS: 12/1-13-18-40.
Fillies fall by seven to Lady Titans
