CHANUTE — Their spirit was willing early on, but their offense wasn’t quite able to match it Tuesday for Iola High’s girls.
In their first game action in three weeks, the Fillies found themselves trailing host Chanute High, 11-1, late in the first quarter.
The Fillies righted their ship after that, but couldn’t put much of a dent in the Blue Comets’ lead in a 34-22 defeat.
The loss, coming in Iola’s first game after the Christmas break, drops the Fillies to 2-4.
“We’re definitely stepping forward,” Fillies coach Becky Carlson said. “We had some early turnovers that hurt us, and there are times when we get down on ourselves if we can’t get our shots to fall.”
Five different Chanute players scored in the opening period as the Blue Comets held leads of 11-1 and 13-3 in the first half.
Addie Haar’s free throw 90 seconds into the contest marked Iola’s only points until Mikaela Platt drained a long jumper just inside the 3-point line with 37 seconds remaining in the first period. Platt, fighting illness, repeated the feat early in the second quarter.
Iola’s defense effectively stymied Chanute’s through the second and third periods, allowing only five points — one field goal and three free throws — over a nine-minute stretch.
Problem was, the Fillies still couldn’t find any traction either. Emma Piazza’s long jumper midway through the second quarter — like Platt’s, just inside the 3-point arc — was Iola’s only field goal over a seven-minute span.
Chanute led 21-7 at halftime.
Hannah Endicott ended the Fillies’ drought with a 3-pointer with 6 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. Sydney Wade’s trey late in the period ended another dry spell, cutting the deficit to 25-13.
The lead see-sawed between 14 and 10 points through the balance of the contest. Toni Macha and Piazza both hit long 2-pointers — part of an ongoing theme — before Piazza’s trey with 2:12 left sliced the Blue Comet lead to 33-22.
Chanute effectively melted the clock from there.
Piazza led the way with seven points and four assists, followed by Platt with four points. Haar and Driskel led Iola with five and four rebounds, respectively.
“Chanute had played a game already since the break, and we didn’t, and we looked like we hadn’t played in a while,” Carlson said. “I thought Emma hit some great shots, and Mikaela stepped up for us in the first half.
“And our defense did a nice job of limiting their offense after that first quarter,” Carlson said. “We got some good looks, but we couldn’t get our shots to fall. We’ve improved quite a bit from where we started the season.”
Two newcomers saw varsity action for the first time.
