The end of a draining stretch of basketball — seven games in 11 days — ended with perhaps the season’s most frustrating loss for Iola High’s girls Saturday.
While the Fillies played well in short bursts, and made several key defensive plays, the offense stalled in the second half amid a flurry of missed shots and turnovers.
Couple that with foul trouble on a couple of key performers, and you have the recipe for a 49-42 loss to Prairie View, keeping the Fillies winless on the season.
“It comes down to mental toughness,” Fillies head coach Kelsey Johnson said. “Was it a tough week for us? One hundred percent. I’m not gonna take any of that away from the girls. But it comes down to can you come down and get a stop? Can you come down and finish an open layup. That kind of thing.”
The Fillies missed by inches an opportunity to win the contest in regulation.
Iola point guard Hannah Gardner hit 1 of 2 free throws to knot the score at 39-39 with 30 seconds remaining.
Prairie View was setting up for a final shot when Iola’s Sidney Shelby stole the ball with 12 seconds left, giving Iola one final possession.
Prairie View’s Karson Gouchenour nearly picked up a steal in the waning seconds, but Iola reserve Jenna Curry stepped in front of Gouchenour’s subsequent pass, and forwarded the ball to Shelby.
With less than a second, Shelby put up a hurried shot. The ball bounced off the rim as time expired.
In overtime play, Iola’s offense stalled.
The Fillies turned the ball over on their first three possessions, including a controversial offensive foul on Aysha Houk that negated a layup that would have given Iola the lead.
Meanwhile, Prairie View forged ahead 43-39 on buckets by Gouchenour and Abby Kirkpatrick.
Curry ended Iola’s dry spell with a basket with 1:55, then her steal led to Gardner’s free throw 10 seconds later to cut the gap to one.
Maci Miller stole the ball on the Buffalos’ next possession, giving the Fillies a golden opportunity to take the lead.
But Iola went scoreless the rest of the way, missing its final three shots, while the Buffalos ended the game going 5-of-6 from the line.
