INDEPENDENCE — Iola Middle School’s head basketball coach Marty Taylor found a silver lining in a four-game loss trip to Independence Monday.
“I told the girls, and it sounds crazy when you lose by 20 points, that we did not play that bad of a basketball game,” said Taylor. “We moved the ball on offense much better, worked hard on defense but when you shoot 2 of 24, it’s just kind of tough to win a basketball game.”
Iola’s eighth-grade A-team lost 26-6 to host Independence Middle School’s Bulldogs. It was 11-3 at halftime.
Jo Lohman had five points and three rebounds for the Ponies. Emma Piazza had one point and five rebounds. Emmalee Seabolt cleared five rebounds and Kyra Moore had three rebounds.
Independence won the eighth-grade B-team game 20-4. Lexie Long and Trilby Bannister each had two points for Iola.
Iola’s seventh-grade A-team couldn’t get kick-started and found itself down 16-5 by halftime. Independence won the game 28-11.
“We just never really got into the flow of the game,” Taylor said. “Taelyn Sutterby came off the bench and gave a good effort.”
Leading the way for Iola was Hannah Ingle with three points and five rebounds. Taylor Sell pulled down eight rebounds and had two points.
Mikaela Platt added two points and claimed seven rebounds. Elise Wolf and Micaiah Larney each had two points and one rebound.
Independence won the seventh-grade B-team game 12-9. Makayli Cleaver tossed in four points for Iola followed by Taylor Heslop with three and Cassie Delich with two.
Iola is at Parsons Thursday.
