BURLINGTON — Iola High’s Fillies are showing marked improvement with their poise and intensity in the young 2012-13 basketball season.
The Fillies were within two points of Louisburg High after one quarter, 7-5, and were a missed field goal away from tying the score early in the second period.
But the Wildcats seized momentum, outscoring Iola 22-7 in the second quarter to lead 29-12 at halftime.
The resulting 52-22 loss drops Iola to 0-2 in the Burlington Preseason Tournament. Iola (0-3 overall) wraps up tournament play against Anderson County at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the Burlington Middle School gymnasium.
“These are baby steps, but we’re getting better,” Fillies coach Becky Carlson said. “The girls did a better job of getting into the offense, but we have to learn to adjust when the other team picks up their intensity.”
Much like their loss to Burlington the day before, the Fillies were hampered with turnovers against Louisburg.
“We just need to do the little things,” Carlson said. “I did like how we attacked early on.”
After Louisburg raced to an early 6-0 lead, Hannah Endicott drained a short jumper, followed about a minute later by an inside basket by Addie Haar. Jo Lohman’s free throw for the Fillies with 2 seconds left in the first quarter put the score at 7-5.
The Fillies almost pulled even early in the second quarter, but a shot from outside rimmed out.
Louisburg responded with a 17-2 run that effectively erased any suspense into the game’s outcome.
But Iola had its moments.
Kyra Moore drained a 3-pointer with about a minute left in the half, followed by a pair of Lohman free throws with 17 seconds on the clock.
Lohman scored four points for Iola early in the third quarter to close the gap to 32-16. Haar scored again before the close of the quarter.
Lohman came off the bench to pace Iola with six points and four rebounds. Moore and Haar added five points each. Moore also had two assists.
Louisburg’s Brook Vaughan was the primary catalyst for the Wildcats with a game-high 24 points, the only player from either team in double figures.
Iola shot a cool 21 percent (6 of 28) from the floor, compared to Louisburg’s 44 percent (19 of 43). The Fillies drained 9 of 11 free throws, while Louisburg connected on 11 of 15 charities.
Louisburg (7-22-10-15—54)
Iola (5-7-6-4—22)
Louisburg (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Vaughan 4/4-4-0-24, Dvorak 3-1-1-7, Aiken 1-0-1-2, Moore 0-0-1-0, Lowry 1/1-2-1-7, Whiting 0-0-1-0, Geiman 1-0-2-2, Sigg 1-0-5-2, O’Keefe 0-1-1-1, Hopkins 2-3-4-7. TOTALS: 14/5-11-17-54.
Iola (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Moore 0/1-2-3-5, Piazza 0-2-0-2, Lohman 2-3-0-7, Ford 0-0-1-0, Endicott 1-2-5-4, Haar 2-0-2-4, Driskel 0-0-2-0, Sigg 0-0-3-0. TOTALS: 5/1-9-16-22.
Wildcats conquer Fillies
