MORAN — Iola High’s Fillies have faced an all too familiar bugaboo — slow starts and early deficits — in their truncated start to the 2020-21 basketball season.
Tuesday was no different, courtesy of St. Paul High’s stifling defense.
St. Paul’s pressure kept Iola from doing pretty much anything on offense from start to finish.
The Indians scored the game’s first eight points and never looked back in a 39-27 victory in the first round of what technically is Yates Center’s midseason tournament.
Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the three Allen County schools originally slated to be in Yates Center — Iola, Humboldt and Marmaton Valley — joined with St. Paul to do their own round-robin tournament. Next up will be a contest against Marmaton Valley on Thursday at Humboldt.
The tournament wraps up at home Friday against Humboldt.
“I like that we’re getting games back in,” Iola head coach Kelsey Johnson said. “We’ve played so few” because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
What she’d really like to see is the girls to get more comfortable playing with each other, either through games or practices, “just to get everybody on the same page.”
St. Paul’s defense kept Iola out of sorts from the opening tip.
The Fillies didn’t dent the scoreboard until Josie Plumlee converted a steal and layup with about 2 minutes left in the first quarter.
A 3-point play by Becca Sprague moments later suddenly had St. Paul on its heels a bit, as Iola clawed to within 10-5.
Iola’s Lauryn Holloway and St. Paul’s Emerald Struthers traded 3-pointers early in the second quarter as St. Paul led 15-10. Josie Harris then scored five straight points for the Indians to push Iola’s deficit to double digits.
Iola could draw no closer through the second half.
“We’re still just trying to find our rhythm,” Johnson said. “There are definitely things that were positive tonight. We saw pieces of good.”
Holloway, Becca Sprague and top reserve Aysha Houk shared scoring honors for the Fillies. Both Holloway and Sprague were saddled with foul trouble most of the night.
Sprague was whistled for her fifth foul early in the fourth quarter. Holloway, too, had to exit early after being whistled for her fifth foul
