BURLINGTON — Iola High’s Fillies proved their mettle Saturday.
They trailed the Rossville High’s Bulldogs through 28:30 of a 32-minute game. The Fillies found the way to gain a 49-42 victory and win the fifth-place game at the 2010 Burlington High Invitational.
Iola had several “big” moments in the game. In the first half, those came at the end of quarters.
Iola trailed 10-5 when sophomore Kelsey Larson hit a free throw then senior Jazmyne Honeycutt scored to make it 10-8.
The Bulldogs pushed out to a 10-point lead, 19-9, by the 2:27 mark of the second quarter. Larson and Honeycutt came up with baskets to get Iola within six with 34 seconds left.
Rossville senior Dana Channel, who finished with 16 points, downed both ends of a one-and-one with 19 seconds left. Enter senior Lyndsi Faulhaber.
Faulhaber rang up a three-pointer with 4.1 seconds on the clock. Larson swiped the inbounds pass under Iola’s basket and was fouled. With no time left on the clock, Larson tossed in two free throws.
“Huge plays at the end. Lyndsi stepped up and hit a couple big threes today plus we hit free throws,” said Becky Carlson, Fillies’ head coach. “That little comeback before half was big for us.”
Iola continued to trail Rossville in the second half. The Bulldogs rattled off six straight to open the third quarter and lead 27-18.
Coming out of an Iola timeout, Faulhaber drilled another trey. Honeycutt, who was big offensively and defensively all night, scored four straight points. Her three-point play with 3:45 cut the margin to two.
Channel drained a three for the Bulldogs to push Rossville’s lead back to 34-27 lead. Honeycutt netted a three-pointer with 1:59 then sank three free throws in the final 42 seconds.
Iola faced a 36-33 deficit going into the fourth quarter. Larson picked up her fourth foul and went the Iola bench with 7:45 left.
“Sure, you want Kelsey out there but the great thing about this team is we have girls who step up and get the job done,” Carlson said.
Unfortunately, so did Rossville. Channel and Kaylee Brown had baskets to push the Bulldog lead to 40-33 with 6:42 left.
Honeycutt drilled a three followed by back-to-back steals by Faulhaber and Honeycutt. Larson’s basket at the 5:01 mark made it a two-point game, 40-38.
Channel and Iola’s Kayla Callahan exchanged putbacks. Callahan pulled a defensive rebound and was fouled.
Callahan hit the front end of a one-and-one to make it 42-41. Rossville got the rebound but turned the ball over.
Callahan’s inside field goal at the 3:36 mark gave Iola its first lead and the lead for good. Iola’s defense held up against several challenges by the Bulldogs.
Larson sank two free throws with 1:12 and Channel couldn’t do the same at the other end. Honeycutt pulled down the rebound.
Faulhaber stepped to the line for a double-bonus. She hit the first charity then took a deep breath before sinking the second. Iola led 47-42 with 41.5 seconds remaining. Larson finished it off with two more free throws.
Larson ended up with 18 points, five rebounds, two steals and two assists. Honeycutt had a double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.
Larson was named to the all-tournament team as was Rossville’s Channel. Larson scored 53 points in three tournament games.
Sabetha won the tournament with a 41-34 win over Topeka Hayden. Burlington edged Labette County 44-43 for third and Paola beat Santa Fe Trail 46-42 for seventh place.
The Fillies shot 32 percent, 13 of 41, from the field. They cashed in on 18 of 27 free throw attempts. They had 39 rebounds.
Iola (4-6) gets back to Southeast Kansas League play Tuesday. The Fillies go to Pittsburg.
Iola (8-10-15-16—49) (FG/3-pt): Faulhaber 0/2-2-0-8, Larson 3/1-9-4-18, Wilson 0-1-3-1, Honeycutt 3/2-5-3-17, McGuffin 0-0-3-0, Callahan 2-1-1-5. TOTALS: 8/5-18-13-49.
Rossville (10-11-15-6—42) (FG/3-pt): Channel 3/2-5-4-17, Cooper 2-0-3-4, Brown 1-0-0-2, Garretson 2-1-3-5, Wehrli 0/1-1-3-4, Dantison 1-2-1-4, Dankenbring 3-0-4-6, Brungardt 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 12/3-9-19-42.
Fillies rally past Bulldogs for fifth
