GARNETT In a tale of two halves, the Iola Fillies finished on the short end of the stick in their season opener against Anderson County Friday evening. After trailing by two to close the first half, Iola failed to keep pace with the Bulldogs in the second, losing 48-31.
Four fresh faces filled the Filly starting five. Returning senior Kelsey Morrison was joined by Hannah Gardner, Becca Sprague, Lauryn Holloway and Elysia Kunkler.
Kunkler rained in a long-range effort to give Iola the first points of the game, but Anderson County responded with a quick 5-0 run. Morrison tied things at 7-7 with 1:18 remaining in the first, but a 3-pointer at the buzzer from Rayna Jasper put AC ahead heading into the second.
The Bulldogs started the second period with two quick baskets, including a steal off the inbound for an easy deuce. Iola went nearly five minutes without converting a field goal before Gabby Richards found room on the inside to get the Fillies on the board in the second.
Gabby Lampes 3-pointer brought Iola within two points, and the Fillies nearly evened the score, but Morrisons layup came up short to close the first half. Iola trailed 16-14 at the break.
Sprague was forced to sit early in the third quarter after collecting her third foul, which hurt the Fillies on the inside. Sprague played sparingly in the second half, and Anderson Countys Cali Foltz took advantage. Foltz scored 19 of her 22 points in the second half.
She is good, and was a starter for them last year, but I dont remember her being quite that good, head coach Becky Carlson said. The next time we play them, we will change out defense to match up better with them.
After handling the pressure well in the first half, Iola failed to break down Anderson Countys full-court press in the second half, leading to an abundance of turnovers.
They got us frustrated, so our ball movement wasnt as good as it was in the first half, Carlson said. Their press took us out of our offense, but I did see a lot of good things. The girls played good together and when we did break the press in the first half, we got some easy baskets.
After Morrisons floater in the lane tied the score at 21-21, the Bulldogs outscored Iola 12-5 to close the third quarter. Leading 33-26 at the end of three, Anderson County continued to pull away in the fourth.
The Bulldogs added two quick scores before Carlson was forced to burn a timeout to regroup her Fillies. Two free throws from Gardner shortened the Bulldog lead to 11, but Anderson County replied with a 9-0 run to put the game to bed.
Iola was outscored 32 to 17 in the second half, falling to the Bulldogs 48-31. Morrison and Richards both finished with a team high 10 points apiece.
Despite the loss, Carlson believes the Fillies are headed in the right direction, and was proud of their never-dying fight to the final whistle. The Fillies will be back in action on Monday for the Central Heights tournament.
