Iola High’s Fillies had their playoff run come to a screeching halt Monday night at home.
Chanute High’s Blue Comets scorched the nets early and never cooled down. The Blue Comets blazed their way to a 54-30 victory in the opening round of the 2012 Kansas Class 4A Substate Basketball Tournament.
“They never cooled off. Chanute was on fire from the opening tip and we weren’t,” said Becky Carlson, Fillies’ head coach.
“I don’t believe if we had played our best tonight we could have beaten that team. We came up against a team that played very, very well tonight.”
The Fillies end the season at 9-12. Five seniors played their final game in the Blue and Gold.
“Our girls played hard and the effort was there but we got down quickly and couldn’t catch up,” Carlson said.
“It’s a tough way to end the season. These girls played above the expectations of a lot of people. I’m proud of how they played all season.”
Iola didn’t score until the 3:16 mark of the first quarter. Senior Kelsey Adams sank two free throws and the Fillies were down 9-2.
Iola had no answer for Chanute’s 6-3 freshman Macy Flowers. Flowers came off the bench to lead the Blue Comets with 12 points — eight coming in the first half.
A putback by Flowers had the Comets in front 18-4. Iola senior Lauren Toney hit a three-pointer to cut it to an 11-point deficit at the end of the period.
Flowers had two baskets down low for Chanute and Morgan Olson’s field goal made it 24-7 at the 4:36 mark. Defensively, Flowers blocked several shots by the Fillies and caused Iola players to alter their shots.
Lisa McFadden, another senior, hit one of two free throws as did senior Kendra Taiclet. But Breanna Olson drove to the basket for a layup to end the first half for Chanute.
The Blue Comets held a commanding 26-9 advantage at the break.
Iola found some offense in the second half. But the Blue Comets had opened the third quarter on a 8-2 run.
Facing a 39-13 deficit, Iola went on a 9-2 surge with senior Kelsey Larson scoring with 3:45 on the clock. Toney hit another three and sophomore Hannah Endicott had a jump shot. Larson sank two free throws to make it 41-22 then was whistled for her fourth personal foul.
