It was mixed results for the Iola Middle School Ponies on Thursday as both eighth-grade teams walked away with wins while the seventh grade struggled at home, losing both games versus Osawatomie.
The eighth-grade junior varsity beat the Lady Trojans 18-7.
It was close after a quarter with the Ponies holding a narrow 2-0 lead but an 8-2 second quarter gave Iola an eight-point cushion going into halftime.
Iola added seven more points in the third quarter while Osawatomie scored two more pushing the Ponies to lead 17-4.
Iola only scored a point in the final quarter but held the Trojans to three to secure the win.
Hannah Hall had an impressive 15-point performance on 7-14 shooting. She also led the team in steals with four along with Triniti Loveall. Loveall led the team in rebounds and had two points while Miah Shelby scored a point. Maci Miller had the lone block.
The second quarter proved to be key for the eighth-grade varsity as well, taking down Osawatomie 29-22.
Both teams came out of the first quarter even with four points each before the Ponies pulled away with an 11-point effort in the second quarter while holding the Trojans to just three to take a 15-7 lead going into halftime.
Iola came out of the half in similar form, scoring six points and holding Osawatomie to three. The Lady Trojans had their final stand in the fourth quarter, outscoring the previous three quarters with 12 points but eight points from Iola kept Osawatomie at bay, allowing the Ponies to clinch the win.
Reece Murry and Josie Plumlee each had six points in the win while Jenna Curry had five and Chloe Sell, Miller and Hall had four points each.
Curry had a team-high eight rebounds and Plumlee had three steals. Murry and Curry each had a block.
Meanwhile, even though both seventh-grade teams lost, the seventh-grade junior varsity kept it close and only lost by one, 11-10.
The Ponies went into halftime with a lead, though it was a slim one. Iola scored two points in the first quarter and that was it for the rest of the half as the Ponies led 2-0 going into halftime.
The Ponies kept their slim lead in the third quarter, scoring another two points while allowing Osawatomie to score its first three points of the game.
In a relatively high scoring fourth quarter, the Ponies more than doubled their score with six points to bring their total to 10 but eight points from the Trojans gave Osawatomie the slight edge and the win.
Caiden Cloud and Abigail Hurst led the way with four points each while Crystal Lindsey had two. Cloud, Dallyn McGraw and Louise Caron each had two rebounds and Cloud had a team-high three steals.
Just like their junior varsity teammates, the seventh-grade varsity had the game in hand throughout the first half but the second half saw Osawatomie get a big offensive boost that they carried to a 37-25 win.
Both teams scored eight points in the first quarter and neither scored in the second quarter to make it 8-8 going into the half.
Iola had its best offensive quarter of the game coming out of the half, scoring 11 points but the Lady Trojans did the Ponies six better as they scored 17 points to take a 25-19 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Iola’s scoring slowed in the fourth quarter. The Ponies scored just six points which was doubled by Osawatomie’s 12 fourth-quarter points to put the game completely out of reach.
Asha Houk had 13 points on 5-19 shooting including three threes. Celina Caron had six points, Jadyn Kauffman had four and Cali Riley and Carly Dreher had one point.
Cloud had a team-high three rebounds while Kauffman had the lone block. Four different Ponies had a steal in the game.
The Ponies will have the week off for Thanksgiving but will return a week from Monday where they’ll travel to Osawatomie for a rematch.
Eighth-grade Ponies prevail over Oswatomie, seventh-grade struggles
