It may not have been as easy as it was the first time around but head coach Becky Carlson and her team couldnt care less. A win is a win.
The Fillies continued their winning ways Wednesday night with a 53-39 victory at home over Prairie View as part of Iolas three games in three days. Wednesday nights game was originally scheduled for last Tuesday before wintry weather set in, forcing a postponement.
I think Prairie View has improved a lot, Carlson said. When we went down there, they werent the same team that they are right now. They have big girls and some quick guards and they made a couple of big threes on us but we did not back down.
The win moves the Fillies to 7-10 so far this season.
Things seemed destined for a blowout early on as the Fillies attacked and got whatever they wanted, building a 17-7 lead by the end of the quarter.
But instead of laying down like the Lady Buffalos did when the Fillies played them at Prairie View back in December, they switched to a zone, throwing Iola for a loop.
The Lady Buffalos started the quarter with a 5-0 run, forcing the Fillies into bad shots and turnovers. Iola started to figure things out by the end of the half and nailed two threes to put eight points of distance between themselves and Prairie View by the half.
We panicked a little bit midway through the second quarter, Carlson said. Defensively they switched to zone and we didnt really have an answer. But we made some adjustments at halftime and it worked out.
Things didnt immediately click for Iola coming out of the half either. The offense was sluggish and the defense was doing just enough to hold their ground.
Senior Ellie Carson, who led the way with 18 points for Iola, scored six of the eight total points that the Fillies scored in the quarter.
She played really smart on defense and didnt get herself in foul trouble, Carlson said. Both she and (senior Shaylee Sutterby) did a great job defensively considering we were undermanned in the post.
Prairie View kept pace with the Fillies up until the final two minutes. The Lady Buffalos were within seven and two possessions later, a three off of an incredible pass from sophomore Claudia Castellanos-Rodrigo to junior Kelsey Morrison and an and-one lay-up by Morrison pushed things back above double digits.
She didnt hold back, Carlson said of Morrison. She just went for it. It was awesome.
The Fillies really managed to make the game look more dominant than it was in the final stretch, wrapping up a 22 point fourth quarter.
Iola will now look to make it three-for-three this week when they host Anderson County tonight to wrap up this three-game stretch. Less than a week ago, the Fillies faced the Bulldogs in Garnett and lost by eight.
Now we know what to expect and its on our home court which seems to be working pretty good for us right now, Carlson said. We just have to do what we do which is play good defense, move the ball and take good shots.
