Fillies prove formidable foe for Labette County

BURLINGTON — A valiant effort by Iola High’s Fillies fell short in a 41-36 loss to a solid Labette County team Tuesday night in the first round of the Burlington Invitational.
“We were a few offensive rebounds, easy buckets underneath and some free throws away from winning this game. We had ourselves in a position to beat that team and that is a great team,” coach Becky Carlson said.
“We did a lot of good things. We guarded very well and controlled the tempo. Labette likes to keep the pace way up. We kept them from doing what they wanted to do.”
The first quarter saw the Grizzlies jump out to a 10-5 advantage. Labette used a full-court pressure defense that caused the Fillies to turn the ball over and play a sweeping 2-3 zone that kept them from scoring inside.
Iola was able to break the zone in the second quarter and outscore the Grizzlies 16-12 thanks in part to the Fillies’ 3-point shooting. Both Mikaela Platt and Emma Piazza scored consecutive 3-pointers to tie the game at 16-16 with 4:40 left in the half. That’s the closest Iola got to taking a lead.
The Fillies trailed 24-21 at halftime. Labette’s Erica Gartner ended the night with 13 points to lead the Grizzlies. She had a big first half, scoring nine points.
Sydney Wade scored a game-high 15 points, igniting in the second half.
Wade scored the first baskets for Iola in the second half — both coming off of jump shots in the lane. After the third quarter, the Grizzlies held a 31-27 lead.
With 2:35 remaining in the game, Iola trailed 37-31. Wade kept the Fillies alive with a clutch 3-pointer, pulling Iola to within three.
Labette’s Tristan Gregg answered with a putback jumper, which gave the Grizzlies a 39-34 lead.
Again, Wade came to the rescue. She secured a rebound and then hit a jump shot. Iola trailed 39-36 with 59 seconds to go.
That’s when Labette ate up the clock. The Grizzlies passed the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds, forcing Iola to foul the remainder of the game.
In the end, there just wasn’t enough time on the clock for the Fillies to get any good looks.
“We did so many good things to put ourselves in the position to win,” Carlson said. “It was a great effort by our team tonight.”
The Fillies (6-4) move to the consolation bracket and will face Burlington at 6:40 p.m. on Friday.

Labette 41, Iola 36
Labette (12-12-7-17—41) (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Gregg 2/1-2-0-9, Gartner 3/1-4-4-13, Stevenson 0-2-3-2, Rakestraw 0-2-2-2, Hentgen 0-0-1-0, Dean 0-0-1-0, Clemens 2-0-4-4, Albertson 1-1-2-3, Sorrell 4-0-4-8
Iola (5-16-6-9—36) (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Wade 4/2-1-4-15, Long 1-0-1-2, Moore 0-0-2-0, Piazza 1/1-5-5, Lohman 0-1-0-1, Shields 0-0-1-0, Haar 0-1-1-1, Platt 0/1-0-1-3, Driskel 2-1-3-5, Macha 0-4-2-4