NEODESHA Another close one fell to the wayside for Iola Highs Fillies in the third-place game of the Wilson County Classic.
Iola lost to Girard in overtime 42-40 despite the fact that the Fillies (5-6) defense held the Lady Trojans to just free throws in the extra period.
After trailing by seven heading into the fourth quarter, Iola fought its way back into the game and then punched its ticket to overtime on a 3-pointer from sophomore Claudia Castellanos-Rodrigo with just seven seconds to play.
I think that was the first time we tied all game, head coach Becky Carlson said. Claudia hit the 3 with 7 seconds left and then we went to our zone press to try and steal the ball and get a final shot but we couldnt do it.
Junior Elysia Kunkler hit a 3 during overtime but those were the only points the Fillies scored as Girard brought the pace of the game to a crawl and slowly added up five overtime free throws to win the game.
They slowed us down and we became a little frantic, Carlson said. We put ourselves in a good situation but we couldnt finish the game.
The game was the third straight that the Fillies have either won or lost by less than five.
These are the three closest games that weve had all year, win or lose, Carlson said of the game that her team has played in the Wilson County Classic. So hopefully this teaches us how to compete and not to give up. But we need to use this as a building block. We came so close to beating both Bluestem and Girard. Hopefully, we learn how to finish.
Iola jumped out to a big 7-1 lead to start the game but similarly to overtime, Girard slowed the Fillies down and methodically took the lead and held it up until the shot by Castellanos-Rodrigo.
The Fillies defense kept them around but they were never able to regain that offensive momentum that they had to start the game.
Weve been playing really good defense the last two or three games and I was concerned before then, Carlson said. Weve just got to get our offense going again.
Castellanos-Rodrigo had 11 and senior Ellie Carson had 10 as the two double-figure scorers for the Fillies.
Iola has the week off before they return home to face rival Chanute on Winter Homecoming next Friday.
Iola (7-7-9-14-340) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Castellanos-Rodrigo 2/1-4-5-11, Carson 4/0-2-4-10, Holloway 0/1-4-3-7, Moore 1/0-4-3-6, Morrison 0/1-0-4-3, Kunkler 0/1-0-0-3, Sutterby 0/0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 7/4-14-18-40.
Girard (5-14-11-7-542) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Valley 5/0-5-3-15, Flaharty 2/0-4-2-8, Poland 2/0-2-2-6, Bailey 2/0-1-4-5, Ferguson 0/0-4-3-4, Smith 2/0-0-0-4, Worrell 0/0-0-2-0, Sands 0/0-0-4-0, . TOTALS: 13/0-16-18-42.
