WELLSVILLE — In stark contrast to last Thursday’s game — where the Fillies got off to a great start and were able to lead Wellsville for a majority of the game before the Eagles surged to win — the Iola offense was basically silent in the early going in a 45-31 loss in Wellsville on Tuesday evening.
“We took good shots, but we just couldn’t get the ball to fall,” Iola coach Becky Carlson said. “You play a team that is that aggressive and you only have 15 turnovers, you can’t complain about that, but we just couldn’t hit shots.”
The Fillies mustered only eight points in the first half and had their defense to thank for being even remotely in the game against Wellsville, who is undefeated in Pioneer League play this season.
The Fillies held the Eagles to just 20 points in the first half.
“We just played good ‘D’ and were pretty patient on offense,” Carlson said. “Our ‘D’ is very good.”
The game would have been much closer in the game’s opening 16 minutes if the Fillies could’ve found any success at the free throw line, but Iola was 0-for-7 from the charity stripe and Carlson really couldn’t come up with an explanation why.
“I don’t know what it was, I just don’t know, because some of our very best free throw shooters were at the line,” Carlson said.
In the second half, the Fillies finally found some semblance of offensive flow and it started at the free throw line where senior Toni Macha went 2-for-2 and then senior Della Lohman converted on a put-back attempt to cut the lead to 22-12 in the early portions of the third quarter.
After an offensive lull for both squads, Iola point guard Sydney Wade converted a contested layup and sophomore Madisyn Holloway hit a free throw to get the Fillies within seven points at 24-17 — the closest they had been since it was 10-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Iola got a defensive stop on the next possession, but as Iola senior Riley Murry ripped down the rebound, Wellsville star freshman Demi Aamold saw an opening a surprised Murry by taking the ball away and immediately laying it in for two.
Wade answered right back with a three pointer and cut the margin to six and it seemed as though the Fillies still had life.
“We showed a lot of effort to come back,” Carlson said. “The reason we got behind wasn’t due to turnovers or bad play. It was just missed shots.”
The Eagles were able to close the quarter on a 6-2 run though and rebuild the lead to 10 points going into the fourth.
After an exchange of free throws to begin the fourth, the Eagles went on went on an 8-0 run and increased the lead to 18.
The Fillies were led in scoring by Wade with 12 points while Macha added eight, but one of the next highest scorers was Katie Bauer with three, who didn’t play until the final minutes of the game. Colbi Riley also had three.
Finding more scoring from the supporting cast will certainly be a focus as the team wraps up the regular season on Thursday night against Santa Fe Trail.
Senior center Karley Patton led a balanced Eagles’ attack with 10 points.
BOX SCORE
Wellsville 45, Iola 31
Iola 4 4 14 9 – 31
Wellsville 10 10 12 13 – 45
Iola (11-8; 7-4 league)
(2pt/3pt-FTM-FTA-Points) Sydney Wade 3/1-3-7-12; Carley Cescon 0/0-0-2-0; Riley Murry 1/0-0-2-0; Colbi Riley 1/0-1-6-3; Della Lohman 1/0-0-0-2; Madisyn Holloway 0/0-1-2-1; Katie Bauer 0/0-3-4-3; Toni Macha 3/0-2-4-8. TOTALS: 9/1-10-27-31. FOULED OUT: None.
Wellsville
(2pt/3pt-FTM-FTA-Points) Lauren McDaniel 0/0-3-4-3; Skylar See 1/0-1-3-3; Grace Showalter 2/0-0-2-4; Sydney Dwyer 1/1-3-4-8; Karley Patton 5/0-0-2-10; Demi Aamold 3/0-2-2-8; Paige McDaniel 2/1-0-0-7; Madie McCoy 1/0-0-0-2. TOTALS: 15/2-9-17-45. FOULED OUT: None.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The Iola junior varsity lost to Wellsville 39-23 on Tuesday.
The Fillies were led by Piper Moore with seven points.
Carley Cescon had four points while Katie Bauer had three and Jennifer Tidd hit a deep three pointer at the final buzzer.
Kassy Shelby, Macayla Bycroft and Kelsey Morrison each had two points.
FRESHMEN
The Iola freshmen lost 34-30.
UP NEXT
The Fillies will finish up the regular season on Thursday night when they host Santa Fe Trail.
The game is also ‘Parents’ Night.’
