Grizzlies take bite out of Fillies

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Sports

January 25, 2014 - 12:00 AM

BURLINGTON — Iola High’s Fillies were able to overcome their early offensive struggles, sticking with Labette County for much of the first three quarters.
It was their late dry spell that did them in on Friday.
Labette County’s 13-0 run spanning more than four minutes of the fourth quarter propelled the Grizzlies to a 45-30 win. The loss relegates Iola (5-6) to today’s seventh-place game of the Burlington Midseason Tournament. Iola will take on Northfield — a 60-14 loser to Rossville on Friday — at noon at the Burlington Middle School gymnasium.
“It was the little things,” Fillies head coach Becky Carlson said. “Not getting back on defense, free throws. We’re getting there.”
Even with Labette’s defensive pressure giving them fits, Iola was able to stay close thanks to some defensive intensity of its own.
“We had turnovers early, but so did they,” Carlson noted. “In the second half, it was our shooting that hurt us.”
An Emery Driskel free throw, followed by an Addie Haar outback kickstarted an 8-2 Fillies run to pull Iola to within 30-27 with just under 7 minutes left on the clock.
The Grizzlies’ response was immediate.
A long inbound pass led to a Labette County basket to push the lead to five. An Aubrey Kimbrough steal led directly to Erica Gartner’s 3-pointer pushing the lead to 35-27 by the 6-minute mark.
Taylor Albertson’s free throws with 1:26 left pushed the lead to 43-27.
“We had dry spells early, but it didn’t hurt us as much because we weren’t giving up the easy baskets,” Carlson said. “We weren’t able to prevent that in the second half.”
Emma Piazza banked in a 3-pointer at the 1:21 mark that gave Iola a spark before Labette County successfully drained the rest of the clock.
Defenses ruled in the early going. Iola’s Mikeala Platt scored six of the Fillies’ first seven points in the first quarter. Lexie Long’s bucket early in the second period gave Iola an 11-10 lead before the Grizzlies’ Clancie Sorrell scored 12 seconds later to push Labette County back on top.
Iola never led again.
Platt led the way with 10 points. Emery Driskel had five rebounds. Wade had four assists and six steals.
“Mikeala did a great job tonight,” Carlson said. “I thought Sydney Wade did a nice job of being aggressive. Everybody did a good job of taking care of the ball after halftime.”
Iola (7-7-8-8—30)
Labette Co. (10-7-13-15—45)
Iola (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Wade 1-0-1-2, Long 1-0-2-2, Piazza 0/1-0-1-3, Lohman 1-0-1-2, Endicott 0-0-3-0, Haar 1-2-3-4, Platt 5-0-0-10, Driskel 1-2-2-4, Macha 1-1-2-3. TOTALS: 11/1-5-15-30.
Labette Co. (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Gartner 1/1-3-2-8, Taylor 1-0-1-2, Rakestraw 2-1-1-5, Green 3-0-3-6, Kimbrough 2-5-2-9, Clemens 1-2-2-4, Albertson 1/1-2-1-7, H. Sorrell 1-0-3-2, C. Sorrell 1-0-1-2. TOTALS; 13/2-13-16-45.

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