It was a banner night inside the Iola Middle School gymnasium Tuesday.
One night after assuring themselves of no less than a tie for the Pioneer League championship, the eighth-grade Mustang girls basketball team clinched the crown outright Tuesday, winning a defensive struggle against Burlington, 21-12.
With the win, Iola (11-1) gets the top seed in this weekend’s Pioneer League postseason tournament Saturday in Garnett. Tipoff for Iola’s first game is at 9 a.m. The Mustangs will play in either the first- or third-place game after that. The championship game will begin at about 12:45 p.m.; the third-place matchup at 11:30 a.m. All of the games will be at the Anderson County High School gymnasium.
AGAINST Burlington, Iola’s offense struggled to get shots to fall, but the Mustang defense made it even tougher on Burlington.
Leading the way for the Mustangs was Haidyn Desmarteau, who scored 10 points, followed by Breighlynn Rutherford with five and Kailyn Rodriguez with four. Cam Wille and Kashyn Curry added three and two points, respectively.
IOLA’S junior varsity squad also went 11-1 on the year, capped by Tuesday’s 23-14 win.
Iola led most of the way until Burlington’s Sophia Matney hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter to push the Lady Cats ahead, 14-13.
Iola ended with a flourish, scoring 10 straight points to end the game.
Lily Jerome was Iola’s chief protagonist down the stretch, scoring eight of her 10 points after halftime, six in the fourth quarter alone. Mary Burris chipped in with five, Macie Stokes-Huntsinger four and Eliana Higginbotham and Hannah Thompson with two apiece.
BURLINGTON won the seventh-grade matchup, 42-3. Nebula Burrow had two points; Hillary Gean one for the Mustangs.
Tuesday’s action concluded the season for the seventh-graders because the Pioneer League was unable to get enough teams for a consolation tournament, IMS officials noted.
