FRONTENAC — As it often does in the game of basketball, it all came down to a single possession for the Iola Fillies, who ended their season Thursday with a 67-63 loss to Frontenac in the 4A-II Sub-State semifinals.
With 11.2 seconds left to play, the Fillies found themselves down two after overcoming a double-digit deficit just a quarter before.
Iola took it down the court and lost the ball on the sidelines after the Raiders’ defensive pressure hit. Frontenac hit two free throws in two separate trips as the seconds ticked down to clinch the game.
“If you have to end your season, that’s a heck of a way to end it,” head coach Becky Carlson said. “The girls played really hard. I’m really proud of them. Their character in life really came through tonight. They showed how hard they work and what they do for this team. I was really proud of their effort and their focus at the end of the game.”
The Fillies end their season with a 7-13 record.
“You always hope that by the end of the season you get everything out of them that we have,” Carlson said. “And I think we did. As a group I think they really played together and molded together, They had each other’s backs the entire year. The seniors were great leaders and the younger girls followed them.”
Iola started off strong and hung with Frontenac for the majority of the first half, only falling behind late thanks to a 6-0 run by the Lady Raiders to close out the quarter.
Senior Chloe Gardner probably had her best half of the year, scoring 10 points, including two threes, all in the first two quarters.
Frontenac came out of the second half strong, pushing their lead to as much as 10 points with 2:33 left in the third quarter. The Fillies fought back and a 9-0 run got Iola within a point headed into the fourth.
“We went to a zone which probably wasn’t very smart on my part and we couldn’t stop the drive,” Carlson said. “When we went back to man it sparked us.”
Iola took its first lead, 53-51, on a three from junior Madi Holloway with 5:30 to play but Frontenac managed to sneak their way back in, retaking a two-point lead with a minute and a half remaining.
Just before that, junior Ellie Carson, who had been stellar driving to the hoop all night, scoring a game-high 22 points, fouled out with roughly 2 minutes to play.
With 53.4 seconds to play, Holloway drained a three to cut Frontenac’s lead to a point, but on the next possession the Lady Raiders went to the line and widened the gap back to three.
That’s the way it went for the rest of the game as the Fillies could get neither the go-ahead or tying basket when they needed it.
Going forward, the Fillies will lose starting point guard Colbi Riley, who had 11 in the game, Gardner, Katie Bauer and Macayla Bycroft to graduation
“I can’t say enough about those senior girls and the leadership they gave us,” Carlson said. “They really led the way for us throughout the season and they’ll be missed.”
