LACYGNE – The Fillies were able to go into their Christmas break with a good taste in their mouths following a comfortable 43-28 victory over Prairie View on Friday night on the road.
The game wasn’t always as lopsided as the final score indicated. The Fillies had to overcome some tense moments in the game’s opening quarter.
“Coming off that loss to Burlington, we were kind of down in the dumps,” Iola coach Becky Carlson said. “Then we can’t get a shot to fall so you don’t look good when your shots don’t go in.”
Iola senior Sydney Wade opened the scoring for the Fillies with a pair of free throws and Iola took the initial 2-0 lead.
Prairie View tied the game up on the next possession and with the score tied, Wade was called for her second foul and the game and the Fillies’ point guard was forced to head to the bench.
The Buffalos took advantage without Wade in the game and quickly built a 7-3 lead and Carlson brought her star back into the game with 3:22 left in the first period despite the two fouls. Coaches normally hesitate to make a move like that, but Carlson has extreme trust in her team, particularly her senior leaders like Wade and Toni Macha.
“Her and Toni both got two fouls,” Carlson said. “They are smart though. They have played long enough that they know what to do.”
Wade not only played smart with her foul situation, but she spear-headed the Fillies’ pressure defense.
Moments after coming back onto the floor, Wade collected a steal at the top of the Fillies’ 1-3-1 defense and raced to the other end for a layup.
“We really move well in that defense and we look for the steals and are where we are suppose to be,” Carlson said. They got a few looks at the basket, but not a lot.”
Two possessions later, Wade repeated the feat and cut the margin to 8-7 late in the opening quarter.
The Buffalos answered Wade’s defensive wizardry by slowing down their attack and getting the ball inside to their imposing post-presence Madison Kemper. The senior capped a 6-0 run with an and-one play to increase the lead to 14-7 early in the second quarter.
Iola needed an answer to avoid falling into a deeper hole and they turned to another senior with the versatile skills of Macha.
“I felt like she caught well inside and really went up strong the whole game,” Carlson said.
Macha scored inside to get herself started, then she drew a foul to go to the line. The forward-turned-guard this season canned both free throws.
