Starting senior point guard fouls out with over three minutes left in the game. The home team trails by seven points and the visiting team has gone to a spread offense to take time off the clock.
No chance for the home team.
Guess what? Iola High’s Fillies rallied down the stretch to get things even – 34-34 – and send Friday night’s game into overtime.
Unfortunately, Girard High’s Trojans put the Fillies through a second long scoring drought in the four-minute extra period. The Trojans outscored the Fillies 12-3 to claim a 46-37 non-league win.
“We just have to put four quarters of basketball together,” said Becky Carlson, Fillies’ head coach, after Iola dropped its second straight game since the holiday break.
“We had some girls step up late in the game and make some plays. But we didn’t make the plays and didn’t score in the second quarter.”
Iola opened its first home game since the season opener on Dec. 2 with a 9-2 run. Kelsey Larson, who fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter, scored five points for Iola. Three came from a trey and senior Kendra Taiclet had the other two baskets.
There was just under two minutes left in the first quarter when Girard started to get on track. The Trojans would outscore Iola 9-0 for the rest of the first half.
A three-pointer by Hayden Herlocker put Girard up 11-9. That’s where it stood at halftime.
The Fillies battled back in the third quarter. Senior Kelsey Adams scored to make it 13-11 in the first minute of action.
Taiclet scored but failed to complete the three-point play. Iola was 2 of 13 from the free-throw line on the night. A trey by Lauren Toney, a senior, followed to put the Fillies back on top.
Larson scored on a layup and Iola was up 18-15 at the 5:23 mark of the third quarter. Herlocker, who led Girard with 18 points, nailed a three-pointer to tie the game.
Herlocker’s third three of the game put her team up 27-19 at the end of three quarters of play.
Iola faced a 30-19 deficit with seven minutes left in regulation.
Hannah Endicott scored then Toney came up with a steal for a layup. The Fillies kept chipping away. Larson had a steal and layup then was whistled for two quick fouls in an eight-second span.
Adams ripped the cords for a three-pointer at the 2:49 mark. Taiclet came up with a steal and scored to make it 32-30.
Herlocker sank both ends of a one-and-one but her teammate Hope McLeod couldn’t. Emma Sigg made a steal off the rebound for Iola which led to a drive to the basket by Taiclet. Again it was a two-point game with 1:14 on the clock.
A series of turnovers and tie-ups ensued. Iola’s defense was able to get a five-second call on a inbounds play. Sigg made a save under the Fillies’ basket and Taiclet’s basket with nine seconds left tied the game.
“Lauren played the best game I’ve seen her play. She did a great job out there for us tonight. Kendra stepped up big late and Kelsey Adams did too,” Carlson said. “In the overtime, we just couldn’t get a shot down.
“We did a good job the whole game against their press. We better as a team now than we were after the win at Independence and better after the loss Tuesday. We’re getting better each time out.”
Taiclet scored 16 points for Iola and controlled 14 rebounds. She had three steals. Larson finished with nine points and four steals. Toney had three assists as did Adams.
Iola shot 37 percent, 13 of 35, from the field. The Fillies had 35 rebounds and 14 steals. They also turned ball over 16 times.
The Fillies are 3-5 overall. They host Fort Scott High’s Tigers Tuesday in a non-league game with the Southeast Kansas League opponent.
Iola’s junior varsity won 31-27. Ten players scored for the Fillies led by Sigg with seven points.
The Fillies’ freshmen won 30-22 as Addie Haar tossed in 10 points and Emma Piazza had nine points.
Girard (5-6-16-7-12-46) (FG/3-pt): Beatty 0-0-2-0, Walsh 0-0-1-0, Johnson 0-0-3-0, Herlocker 1/3-7-1-18, Jongs 1-0-1-3, Heatherly 0/1-0-1-3, Davied 7-3-2-17. TOTALS: 12/4-10-13-46.
Iola (9-0-10-15-3-37) (FG/3-pt): Larson 3/1-0-5-9, Taiclet 7-2-2-18, Toney 1/1-0-3-5, Endicott 1-0-1-2, McFadden 0-0-1-0, Adams 1/1-0-3-5. TOTALS: 13/3-2-15-37.
Fillies come up short in OT against Girard
