A putback basket at the buzzer by Taylor Heslop forged a 21-21 tie and forced the eighth-grade A-team game into overtime here Monday.
Heslop led the Iola Middle School Ponies to a 27-24 victory in overtime against the visiting Columbus Middle School Titans. The Ponies outscored the Titans 6-3 in the extra period.
Columbus pushed out to a 5-0 lead but Iola began coming back to trail 12-7 at halftime. The Ponies closed the gap to 15-13 by the end of the third quarter. Iola outscored Columbus 8-6 in the final period of regulation to get the game into overtime.
Heslop finished with 10 points and two rebounds and Mikaela Platt tossed in nine points while grabbing eight rebounds. Taylor Sell had seven rebounds and three points. Ashlie Shields and Elise Wolf each had two points and Hannah Ingle had one point.
“Taylor Heslop really played hard in the second half. It was by no means a pretty game but we out worked them in the second half and that was the difference,” said Marty Taylor, IMS head basketball coach.
“Elise did a good job of keeping their scorer from getting easy looks when we went into a box and one.”
Columbus defeated the Iola seventh-grade A-team 16-10 using a 14-8 first half surge. Toni Macha and Lexi Heslop each had three points. Macha pulled down seven rebounds and Heslop had six rebounds.
Riley Murry had two points and four rebounds. Sydney Wade added two points.
“The only way we win basketball games is to out work the opponent and we just didn’t do that in the first half,” Taylor said. “We played much better in the second half but when you shoot 2 of 33 it makes it tough.”
In a combined B-team game, Iola won 26-6. Micaiah Larney fired in 12 points and Bobbi Sinclair had four points.
Scoring two points each were Brooklyn Storrer, Jadyn Sigg, Joie Whitney Cloey Burris and Alaynah Donovan.
Iola’s teams host Independence next Monday.
Budke service is Friday in Stillwater
Funeral services for former Allen County Community College women’s head coach Kurt Budke are Friday.
Rosary is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Stillwater, Okla.
The funeral mass is 10 a.m. Friday at the church.
Budke, 50, was the Oklahoma State University head women’s basketball coach. Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna along with the pilot, Olin Branstetter, and Paula Branstetter were killed last Thursday in a single-engine plane crash while on a recruiting trip in Arkansas.
Budke coached at ACCC from 1991 to 1993.
