Fillies beat Bulldogs in thriller

GARNETT — Iola High’s Fillies were able to hold onto the lead the entire game to beat Burlington 51-49 Friday night for fifth place in the Bulldog-Wildcat Classic.
“We did everything but make our free throws tonight. We just came back and looked like another team,” head coach Becky Carlson said. “We dominated on the boards, we took great shots and we didn’t have many turnovers. It was a good game for us. It was a good team effort.”
Iola started the game on a 6-0 run in the first two minutes. Sydney Wade, Addie Haar and Jo Lohman each scored on the run. The Fillies took a 14-10 lead into the second.
The Fillies weren’t able to extend to a lead larger than six points for the rest of the game, which made things close in the fourth quarter.
Leading 46-44 with 57 seconds left in the game, the Wildcats attempted a comeback. It helped that Iola wasn’t making free throws. The Fillies were 6 of 18 for free throws in the fourth quarter — five of the successful free throws came from Wade.
The Wildcats got the ball back after a Fillies turnover with 53 seconds left. Burlington’s Malorie Wagner made a hook shot to tie the game at 46.  Wade made one of two free throws to give the Fillies the lead.
Burlington had a chance to take the lead on its next possession, but Mikaela Platt came up with a steal and passed the ball to Wade, who was promptly fouled. She made both her free throws to give Iola the 49-46 lead with 31 seconds left.
The Wildcats didn’t go away, making a lay-up with 12 seconds on the clock to cut the lead to 49-48. Wade received the inbound and also a foul, putting her back on the line. She made one of two this time, to give Iola the 50-48 lead. With four seconds left, Burlington’s Shelbi Emiling was sent to the line, where she missed her first free throw, but made the second.
Having to foul quickly, Wade was sent back to the line. She made the first free throw to give Iola a two-point lead with 2.8 seconds left. She missed the next, which worked out for the best since Burlington couldn’t set up a play and ran out of time.

POOR SHOOTING didn’t help the Fillies in their 56-33 loss to Louisburg Thursday. Iola wasn’t able to score from underneath the basket, allowing the Wildcats to outpace the Fillies.
“We were pretty flat,” Carlson said. “We didn’t execute our offense very well. So, the shots that we took weren’t great shots. We hustled in the first half, but in the second half I just think that Louisburg outplayed us.”
Louisburg opened a 14-5 lead in the first quarter.
Iola started on a 4-0 run in the first three minutes. Emma Piazza hit a jumper to open the game in the first 10 seconds and Addie Haar scored on a jumper from the free throw line with 5:05 remaining.
Piazza gave Iola its last lead with a free throw to break a 4-4 tie with 3:50 remaining in the first.
The rest was all Louisburg.
Louisburg ended the quarter with a 10-0 run, then outscored Iola 14-6 in the second. Piazza and Lexie Long each hit a free throw. Piazza also had a steal that led to an easy lay-in by Haar late in the half.
The third quarter didn’t fare much better. Iola started the period off on a 6-3 run, but the Wildcats ended the third on an 11-0 spurt.
Iola turned the ball over three times in a row to start the fourth.
Toni Macha had herself quite the quarter, scoring all nine of her points in the period. However, it was too late for Iola to make a comeback.
The Fillies host Central Heights on Tuesday.

(Friday) Iola (14-17-10-10—51) (FG/3PT-FT-F-TP): Wade 3/1-7-2-16, Long 0-0-1-0, Piazza 2-0-5-4, Lohman 1-3-1-5, Shields 0-0-2-0, Haar 4-4-2-12, Platt 2-0-4-4, Driskel 3-1-3-7, Macha 1-1-2-3
Burlington (10-15-10-14—49) (FG/3PT-FT-F-TP): Isch 1-0-0-2, Norton 2-3-4-7, Thorpe 2-2-0-8, Steffan 1-0-0-2, Pearson 2/1-0-4-7, Johnson 0-0-2-0, Emling 0-3-3-3, Williams 0/1-1-1-5, Wagner 3-2-2-8, Iseman 3-3-4-9, Aikins 0-1-5-1

(Thursday) Iola (5-6-8-14—33) (FG/3PT-FT-F-TP): Wade 2/0-0-2-4, Long 1/0-2-2-4, Moore 0/0-0-2-0, Piazza 2/0-1-4-5, Lohman 1/0-0-2-2, Bannister 0/0-0-2-0, Shields 0/0-0-2-0, Haar 2/0-0-0-4, Platt 0/0-1-5-1, Driskel 2/0-0-1-4, Macha 3/0-3-2-9
Louisburg (14-14-15-13—56) (FG/3PT-FT-F-TP): Simpson 3/0-2-2-8, Lemke 3/0-1-2-7, Moore 6/1-8-4-23, Holtzen 1/0-0-1-2, Lowry 1/0-0-0-2, Buffington 0/0-1-3-1, O’Keefe 5/0-5-5-15, Gilliland 0/0-0-3-0