CARBONDALE — The Iola High boys and girls couldn’t find any answers in their losses to the Santa Fe Trail Chargers Tuesday night.
The Mustang boys (6-8) kept it close early but were hurt by a poor defensive effort later on in a 70-48 loss. The Iola girls (4-11) were hindered by turnovers and struggled to produce much of anything offensively in their 61-21 defeat.
Boys Basketball
Cortland Carson’s two-point jumper got the Mustangs off to a good start but Santa Fe Trail quickly responded by going on a 14-4 run through the opening minutes of the game.
The Chargers were led by Lane Workman’s nine points, highlighted by a three. Luke Edwards and Kemper Spoonemore also added six points apiece.
“We started out the first several possessions defending the way we wanted to and forcing them to take the shots we wanted them to take, but we weren’t getting any rebounds,” said Iola head coach Luke Bycroft. “They’d get the offensive rebound and score or kick out and then make a shot. They would run a good offense after a rebound then we’d break down.”
The Mustangs fought hard to make it a game early on when they stormed back to make it a 16-16 ballgame behind Eli Adams’ five layups and a free throw. Mac Leonard also nailed a three.
Iola trailed Santa Fe Trail 30-20 heading into the second quarter. Iola’s Landon Weide hit a two-point jumper midway through the quarter to bring the Mustangs within nine, 35-26.
Charger Edwards scored four points and Workman added three to give Santa Fe Trail a 43-26 lead at halftime.
The teams went back and forth on baskets in the third. Carson hit a three and Grady Dougherty sank a trio of free throws to pace Iola but the Mustangs trailed Santa Fe Trail heading to the fourth, 50-33.
“When teams put on the pressure, they want us to take the quick shot and force something,” Bycroft said. “They think they can force us into enough turnovers and bad shots that the times we do get easy buckets at the rim isn’t going to pay off because we’ll turn it over enough.”
The Chargers added 21 more points in the fourth, led by Jalen Smith’s nine points, including a pair of layups to take a 22-point victory.
Adams netted five points in the fourth on a three and a layup but it wasn’t enough for Iola to climb back from on the wrong end of a 70-48 loss.
Adams finished as the leading scorer with 18 points, followed by Carson’s 10 points while Leonard netted six.
Girls Basketball
The Mustangs couldn’t seem to stop turning the ball over in the first half when the Lady Chargers capitalized and scored 15 points in the first and 17 more in the second quarter.
Santa Fe Trail’s first half was led by Braegan Buessing’s 11 and Sydnee Whitaker’s 10 points.
