Defense propels Fillies over Trojans

Word of the day was “relentless” for Iola High’s Fillies.
“Our defense was relentless tonight and it controlled their (Osawatomie) offense,” said Becky Carlson, Fillies’ head coach after Iola opened the 2011-2012 basketball season with a 31-17 victory at home Friday.
“If you’re not scoring but your defense is not allowing them to score much, we’ll take that.”
At the start of the contest with the Osawatomie High Trojan girls, neither team seemed ready to score points to begin the season. Not until Iola senior Kendra Taiclet hit a baby hook shot at the 3:33 mark of the first quarter was there any score.
A free throw by senior Lauren Toney made it 3-0 but the Trojans scored the next three to tie it up. In the final minute of play, Taiclet and Toney each had a basket to put Iola up 7-3.
Lisa McFadden, another senior, scored on an inbounds play under the basket to start the second quarter. Up 9-5 with two minutes to play until halftime, the Fillies turned up the heat defensively.
Senior guard Kelsey Larson scored then drove down the lane for a basket and was fouled. She hit the free throw. Taiclet ripped the cords for a three-pointer with 58 seconds on the clock.
The Fillies were up 17-5 at intermission.
“We got a great effort from everybody who played tonight,” Carlson said.
The Fillies had a tough third quarter scoring just one point in the first six minutes. Tess Newport hit a three-pointer for Osawatomie to make it 18-11 at the 4:22 mark.
Larson drilled a trey for Iola two minutes later. The Trojans pulled to within six, 21-15, by the end of the period.
Taiclet opened the fourth quarter with a trey and sophomore Hannah Endicott scored as Iola went on a 10-0 run. The Fillies’ defense did not give up the final two points to the Trojans until there was less then 20 seconds in the game.
Iola shot 34 percent, 11 of 32, from the field and downed 6 of 12 free throw attempts. Osawatomie went 2 of 5 from the line.
d a double-double in the game. Larson scored 14 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Taiclet poured in 10 points and claimed 10 rebounds.
Larson had eight of Iola’s 14 steals and five of its 12 assists. The Fillies had 33 rebounds. Iola turned the ball over 17 times.
“This was a pretty good start to the season. We focused our defense on Rebecca Fisher and Tayler Soucie. Fisher didn’t score and Soucie (a 6-foot senior) had seven points,” Carlson said.
Soucie was Osawtomie’s leading scorer for the game.
The Fillies (1-0) travel to Louisburg Monday to play Burlington in the opening round of the Wildcat/Bulldog Classic. They play Louisburg on Tuesday in pool play.
Osawatomie won the girls’ junior varsity game Friday, 33-25. Emery Driskel, Reagan Ford and Katie Thompson each had six points for Iola.
The Iola freshmen won 25-12. Addie Haar scored nine points and Emmalee Seabolt added six points.
The Iola freshmen are coached by first-year assistant Emily (Larson) Sigg, who took the place of longtime assistant coach Pat Lonergan this season. Sigg is a former Iola High standout and was a member of the 2006 Kansas Class 4A State Championship basketball team for the Fillies.
Iola (7-10-4-10-31) (FG/3-pt): Larson 3/1-5-2-14, Taiclet 2/2-0-2-10,Toney 1-1-0-3, Endicott 1-0-1-2, McFadden 1-0-1-2, Adams 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 8/3-6-7-31.
Osawatomie (3-2-10-2-17) (FG/3-pt): Fisher 0-0-5-0, Wright 1-0-1-2, Newport 0/1-0-1-3, Soucie 3-1-3-7, Kilbourn 1-0-4-2, Firley 1-1-1-3. TOTALS: 5/1-2-15-17.