CARBONDALE Its games where points dont come easily that you realize the value of a single point. For the Iola girls, that lone point was the difference between snapping a losing streak or piling on to it.
Unfortunately for the Fillies, Tuesday nights 32-31 loss at Santa Fe Trail brought the latter and the Iola girls now find themselves on the wrong end of four straight games.
Its frustrating, but we just have to come out and play hard both halves, head coach Becky Carlson said. If we played the whole game like we did in the second half, then it would have been a totally different ball game.
The Fillies drop to 5-8 overall this season.
Santa Fe Trail hung their hats on a physical zone defense that gave the Iola girls fits in the first two quarters.
Had it not been for threes at the end of both quarters, Iola would have scored four points in the first quarter and two in the second.
We had trouble getting the ball inside, Carlson said. We werent moving the ball hardly at all. Once we started to do that, thats when we got some looks.
Despite the offensive struggles, the Filly defense kept the Lady Chargers in range, never allowing the home squad to put more than eight points between them.
Iola went into the half down five but started to cut into that lead immediately in the third quarter led by senior Piper Moore who had four of the 12 points the Fillies scored in the quarter.
Shes really, really aggressive and did a great job, Carlson said. She posted up inside and got a lot of rebounds.
The Fillies tied things up at 21 and 20 seconds later, took their first lead at 24-21 with 1:15 left in the quarter.
Things stayed pretty tight throughout the fourth quarter until Santa Fe Trail hit their only three of the game with a minute left to play, giving them a three-point lead.
The Fillies knocked that down two one twice in the final minute on a steal-turned-lay-up by sophomore Claudia Castellanos-Rodrigo with 30 seconds and a lay-up from senior Ellie Carson with 4.5 seconds.
Iola fouled Santa Fe Trail immediately following the shot and sent them to the line. They missed the first free throw and the Fillies got the rebound but there just wasnt enough time to get up a good final shot.
Castellanos-Rodrigo led the Fillies with 10 points followed by eight for Moore and six for senior Madisyn Holloway.
The Fillies will hit the road again on Friday when they travel to take on a Burlington team that beat them at home 51-34 on Dec. 11.
If we can get the ball up the court against them then I think well have a pretty good shot at scoring, Carlson said. I hope we can take care of the ball better. When we played them the first time, the girls really hadnt seen a press and we werent able to really simulate one in practice but since then weve run into several.
