HUMBOLDT — Chalk this one up for the mentor.
In a contest filled with storylines surrounding both team’s head coaches — Iola High’s Kelsey Johnson and Marmaton Valley High’s Becky Carlson — it was Carlson’s Wildcats that emerged with a hard-fought 37-34 victory over Johnson’s Fillies.
“Both teams played hard, you could tell just by watching it,” said Carlson, who coached at Iola for 15 years before returning to coach this season at her alma mater. “And we both just have a little bit of trouble scoring.”
With both teams keen on amping up the defensive pressure, the name of the game boiled down to who could limit their offensive dry spells.
Iola held the early advantage, holding the Wildcats scoreless through the first 4 minutes of the contest, before Marmaton Valley did the same against the Fillies in the second.
Even more importantly, the Wildcats held Iola without a field goal for nearly the entire fourth quarter, turning a two-point lead into a nine-point margin.
The Fillies ended the drought with a Lauryn Holloway 3-pointer with 30 seconds left, but by then it was too little, too late.
She was able to pare the deficit to five, 37-32. But Iola missed on a golden scoring opportunity moments later, and didn’t score again until Becca Sprague’s bucket in the waning seconds for the final margin.
“We just had so many turnovers,” Johnson said. “It all goes back to turnovers. We’re just not comfortable with the ball, and we’re trying to make passes that aren’t there.”
The momentum shifted during a pivotal second quarter, when Marmaton Valley took advantage of some early Iola foul trouble and a litany of Fillies turnovers — 12 in the second quarter alone — to embark on an 11-0 run.
Tayven Sutton got things started with a putback before Aly Ard turned a steal and layup into a 3-point play to knot the score at 9-9. Payton Scharff’s bucket with 5:40 left in the half gave Marmaton Valley an 11-9 lead. The Wildcats never trailed again.
By the time Mykayla Ard converted another steal and layup to push the Wildcats’ lead to 15-9, Johnson had to use her second timeout in less than 90 seconds of gametime.
Iola’s Josie Plumlee gave the Fillies a spark when she drilled a 3-pointer with 2:43 left in the half to cut Marmaton Valley’s lead to 18-16. Lauryn Holloway then knotted the score at 18-18 with an inside bucket at the 2:10 mark.
But both Plumlee and Becca Sprague both were sent to the bench over a 30-second stretch after both were whistled for their third fouls of the contest. Kaylee Becker and Janae Granere combined to go 3-of-4 from the line before Payton Scharff’s putback pushed the Wildcats back up by five, 23-18.
Jenna Curry ended the half with a free throw for Iola.
“Our defense was really good,” Carlson said, “and we were able to get a little transition going.”
