The Iola Mustangs downed the Wellsville Eagles 47-42 Monday night.
With the win, the Mustangs finished the regular season tied for fourth in the Pioneer League with Anderson County. The win avenged a previous loss to Wellsville.
A loss which had stuck in Iola coach Emily Sigg’s craw.
“The first time we played them it was very close. I told myself the next time we played them, we’d get them,” Sigg said. “People say these games don’t matter because substate has already been decided, but it matters to me. It was a huge win. Getting our seventh win is great. The girls were so gritty and battled to the end.”
Iola had three players reach double-digits in scoring, but it was junior guard Brooklyn Holloway who kept Iola in contention early with nine of her 12 points coming in the first half. The Mustangs took an early lead on six of Holloway’s points, as well as a bucket by freshman guard Haidyn Desmarteau and a bucket and a free-throw from junior forward Zoie Hesse, which seemed a prelude of things to come for Hesse and Desmarteau.
“We needed to feed the inside and get looks on the outside,” Holloway said. “We played as a family. We fought and it was fun. It was our attitude and our effort. We didn’t get down. We wanted to win.”
As Wellsville worked to limit Holloway to just a bucket and a free-throw in the second quarter, 3-pointers by freshman guard Breighlynn Rutherford and Desmarteau lifted Iola to a 23-16 lead by halftime. Iola exploited Wellsville’s man-to-man defense with strong play in the paint. Hesse scored 13 of her team-leading 18 points in the third quarter as Iola began to pull away.
“Whenever they shot, they always had their backside girl open,” Hesse said. “If someone boxed her out, she wasn’t going to get the ball. Everyone crashed the boards. It wasn’t just one person. I was just getting good passes and working on moves we work on in practice.”
Wellsville senior guard Savannah Viets caught fire in the fourth quarter with a trio of 3-pointers and a pair of successful trips to the free throw line. She scored 13 of her team-leading 21 points as Wellsville inched closer to catching up to the Mustangs.
Despite a cold night behind the arc in the first part of the game, Holloway hit her mark when the Mustangs needed her most with a late fourth-quarter 3-pointer, then free throws from Desmarteau and Holloway secured the win.
With the win, the Mustangs wrap up the regular season 7-16 overall and 6-7 in Pioneer League play. The Mustangs open the postseason as the substate 12th seed on the road Friday against the third seed Riverton Rams (16-5). After winning three or their last four games, Coach Sigg said her team is peaking just in time for the postseason.
“We’re going to use the next few days to prepare and push ourselves,” Sigg said. “We might throw out a few new tricks this week. We’ll see. We are peaking at the right moment. It’s postseason now and crazy things happen.”
Tip-off for Friday’s contest is at 6 p.m.
