LA CYGNE — Take away one of Iola High’s main cogs, and the Fillies can make do, as evidenced by Friday’s homecoming win against visiting Central Heights.
But take away a second key performer, and things get a little tougher.
A shorthanded Fillies squad stood toe-to-toe for much of the first half Tuesday at Pioneer League rival Prairie View.
But without the services of leading scorer Toni Macha (illness) and standout point guard Sydney Wade (ankle), the Fillies found themselves precariously short of ammo.
The Buffalos took the lead for good in the second quarter and never looked back in a 40-24 victory.
The loss — Iola’s sixth in seven games — drops the Fillies to 5-11 on the season.
“We played good defense, and I was happy with the effort,” Iola head coach Becky Carlson said. “It would have been a great victory. We just couldn’t get the scoring we needed.”
Iola led 10-8 at the end of the first quarter and 11-10 early in the second before Prairie View took the lead for good with a 5-0 run.
Still, Iola stayed within arm’s length until halftime, courtesy of a balanced scoring attack with Ashlie Shields, Riley Murry, Colbi Riley, Mikaela Platt and Della Lohman all finding the scoring column.
That soured in the third quarter as the Buffalos clamped down on defense.
Prairie View held Iola scoreless for more than 5 1/2 minutes after the break. Platt’s long jumper with 2:14 left ended what had been an 8-0 Buffalo run.
“We were just as good on defense as we’d been in the first half,” Carlson said. “We just couldn’t get any of our shots to fall.”
Shields emerged to give Iola a spark down the stretch.
She scored all six of Iola’s points at one point, including an inside bucket to cut the deficit to seven, 28-21, early in the fourth period.
But the Buffalos’ Kammie Davis responded with a bucket before Allyson Kirkpatrick completed a 3-point play to re-establish a double-digit lead.
Shields paced the Fillies with 11 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Platt with 5 points, Murry with 4, Riley 3 and Lohman 2.
