FREDONIA — It took a while longer than they would have liked, but Iola High’s Fillies eventually offered proof positive Tuesday that the best offense was a good defense.
The Fillies utilized a 17-2 run, behind the defensive high jinks of freshman reserve guard Sydney Wade, whose fingerprints were all over the stat sheet down the stretch in the Fillies’ 42-32 victory.
The win stops a three-game losing streak and gives the Fillies a nice confidence boost headed into the Christmas break. Iola (2-3) returns to action Jan. 7 at Chanute.
“It was a good comeback,” Iola head coach Becky Carlson said. “We were really aggressive in the second half.”
Leading the charge was the diminutive freshman Wade.
She scored all 16 of her points over the last 8 minutes, 10 seconds of the game — 14 in the fourth quarter alone — as the Fillies erased a 20-14 deficit.
She registered three steals, leading directly to Iola layups in the fourth quarter, drained a running jumper down the lane and hit 6 of 10 free throws. For good measure, she also assisted on another basket, a layup by Lexie Long to push the Fillies up by eight with just over two minutes left.
Her free throw with 1:49 left in the game put Iola up 37-24.
“Sydney really settled down in the second half and did what she does best: play aggressive defense and move the ball around on offense,” Carlson said.
Fredonia got no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
For much of the early going, it looked like Iola’s miserable offensive night might be too much to overcome. The Fillies committed nine turnovers in the game’s first four minutes: yet still led, 2-0.
Fredonia didn’t dent the scoreboard until less than 2 minutes remained in the first quarter, although Danni Shay’s bucket triggered a seven-point Yellowjacket burst, extending to the midpoint of the second quarter.
Emery Driskel stopped Iola’s eight-minute scoring drought with a putback with 4:10 left in the second quarter. Emma Piazza then got into the act with six points over the last 98 seconds of the half, including her buzzer-beating layup to give the Fillies a 12-11 lead at intermission.
Iola’s scoring slump returned in the third period.
Driskel’s putback midway through the quarter marked Iola’s only points until Driskel scored again with 1:04 left. By then, Fredonia had forged its way to a 20-14 lead. Haar’s basket with 38 seconds left in the period cut the deficit further before Wade’s layup with 10 seconds in the period evened the score at 20-20.
Then came the decisive run.
Iola won despite committing a whopping 44 turnovers.
