CHANUTE — Iola Middle School’s seventh-grade girls pulled out a 25-22 win over host Royster Middle School’s Rockets in A-team play Thursday.
Royster led 10-8 at halftime. The Ponies outscored the Rockets 17-12 in the second half for the three-point win.
Sydney Wade paced the Ponies with eight points and four rebounds. Toni Macha added six points and five rebounds.
Riley Murry controlled six rebounds plus scored four points as did Taylor Stout. Lexi Heslop had three points.
“The girls really played hard. Our conditioning paid off and we got a couple of easy baskets late to seal it,” said Marty Taylor, IMS head coach. “Taylor Stout did a much better job of playing defense in this game.”
Iola’s eighth-grade A-team players “played very hard although the score doesn’t reflect it,” said Taylor about Royster’s 40-7 win over the IMS girls.
“Chanute (Royster) is a very good eighth-grade team. We couldn’t hit a shot to save our lives but there was nothing wrong with our effort,” he said.
It was 28-6 at halftime. Makayli Cleaver had two points and four rebounds for Iola. Ashlie Shields had two points and three rebounds.
The Ponies got one point each from Cassie Delich, Mikaela Platt and Taylor Sell. Sell had three rebounds.
Iola’s eighth-grade B-team won 19-12 led by Micaiah Larney with 11 points. Hannah Ingle added four. Cloey Burris and Taelyn Sutterby each had two points.
The Pony seventh-grade B-team lost 23-14. Brooke Storrer had four points while Breckon Sutherland had three points.
Scoring two points each were Stout, Della Lohman, Alaynah Donovan. Jadyn Sigg had one point.
Iola’s seventh-grade teams play today in the IMS Pony Stampede. Iola’s teams play Columbus Monday at home.
IMS seventh-grade girls beat Rockets
