On a special homecoming night where the first class of Fillies from 1974 was honored, the current Fillies couldn’t navigate a way to victory lane on Friday against Burlinton.
The Wildcats completed the Pioneer League sweep with a 32-27 victory.
“It’s just disappointing because I thought we could beat them, and it is homecoming,” Fillies head coach Becky Carlson said. “The girls wanted to win so bad, but we didn’t.”
Two buckets from Becca Sprague, including an and-one finish helped Iola keep pace with Burlington early. Hannah Gardner leveled the score at 7-7, and Iola and Burlington remained even at 9-9 heading into the second. Both Sprague and Gardner received high praise from Carlson.
“Becca had a really great game,” Carlson said. “I thought Hannah Gardner had a great game, and really did a good job taking care of the ball for us.”
Gabby Richards gave Iola the lead to start the second, and Iola held a 11-9 lead while holding Burlington scoreless for the first three minutes of the quarter. After Burlington battled back to retake the lead, Iola muscled its way to the lead once more with a cool finish from Gardner and charity from Elysia Kunkler. Still, Iola’s efforts were not enough to lead at the break. The Fillies trailed 17-16.
“We pounded it inside and had some good drives,” Carlson said. “They were about like us, and struggled to score. They just hit one more shot than we did.”
The defensive battle continued in the second half. Sprague got the Fillies within one after grabbing her own rebound, and going up with poise in the paint with 6:30 left in the third. Burlington led by as many as six, but kelsey Morrison connected from beyond the arc seconds before the buzzer to send Iola into the fourth down 26-24.
Burlington constructed a 5-0 run to open the quarter, causing Carlson to call a timeout with 4:51 left. While the Wildcats mustered one point the rest of the way, Iola managed only three points, all coming from the free-throw line.
The loss moves Iola back to under .500 at 7-8 on the season.
“We’ve just got to keep going,” Carlson said. “You lose your confidence, then you have to get it back. I think we are doubting a little more than we did before, but we will get back.”
The Fillies will get the chance to put their two-game losing slide to bed at home on Tuesday against Prairie View. Tip-off is scheduled for around 6 p.m.
YOUNG FILLIES
The freshman/sophomore team beat Burlington 34-26. The Fillies were led by 12 points from Aysha Houk. Complimenting Houk was Caiden Cloud and Miah Shelby with 6 points each. Reece Murray scored 4, and Jadyn Kaufman, Maci Miller, and Elanie Sturgeon each finished with 2.
BOX SCORE
