RICHMOND After every game this season, Iola girls head coach Becky Carlson has stated emphatically that the season was young and her team was only going to get better.
That has remained true three games in and on Friday, it showed emphatically as Iola walloped West Franklin 51-21 in the fifth-place game of the 2018 Ike Cearfoss Tournament.
We just moved the ball so well and we were unselfish, Carlson said. Were really starting to see each other really well.
The Fillies move to 2-1 overall this season.
Both offense and defense worked in concert all night as Iola got just about anything they wanted and didnt even leave hardly any scraps for the Lady Falcons.
The Fillies started the game by working it down low to players like seniors Piper Moore and Ellie Carson but soon, after leading 10-3 after the first quarter, they were getting their shots from everywhere and from everyone.
Thats just what was open, Carlson said. But it shows that our opponents just cant focus on one of us this year.
Four Fillies ended the night in double figures led by Moore and Carson who both had 12. Fellow senior Madisyn Holloway had 11 and junior Kelsey Morrison, who ended up playing point guard for the majority of the night after sophomore starter Claudia Castellanos-Rodrigo got in foul trouble early.
Sophomore Rachel Bycroft, junior Elysia Kunkler and Castellanos-Rodrigo each had two points.
At the 3:08 mark of the second quarter, the Fillies lead had ballooned to 20 and West Franklin still had not scored more than those three points.
The Fillies opened the half with a 9-2 run and showed that even though the Lady Falcons offense started to show some signs of life, they werent going to get backed down by anyone.
I told them at halftime that its easy to get a lead but, I asked them, can you keep it, Carlson said. And to their credit they did. They extended it. They kept their intensity going and it paid off.
With 7:47 left in the fourth quarter, the Fillies hit the 30-point mark for their lead, capping off their most dominant performance of the season by far.
I wanted three wins out of this week but to get two is great, especially considering that we lost five seniors last year, Carlson said. I love the balance of this team, the intensity on offense and defense and how they move the ball and each other. Theres no selfishness at all. Theyre fun to watch.
The Fillies will now open league play at home versus a tough Burlington team on Tuesday.
