Iola High’s girls put forth another strong defensive showing in Friday’s War on 54 Midseason Tournament Championship.
Problem was, the Mustangs couldn’t get much going on offense.
Iola saw an early seven-point lead dissipate in the second quarter before Cherryvale got hot from the outside in the second half to pull away for a 43-31 victory.
“I don’t want to let one loss spoil the good things we did this week,” Mustang head coach Kelsey Johnson said. “We still did a lot of good things tonight.”
Neither team was able to do much offensively until Iola found its offense inside.
Reese Curry’s bucket midway through the first quarter marked the Mustangs’ first points of the game. Zoie Hesse came off the bench to score twice, including a 3-point play in the last second of the quarter to push Iola ahead 7-2. Elza Clift extended the lead to 9-2 with the first bucket of the second quarter as well.
But Cherryvale clamped down on defense, putting together a 13-2 run to lead 15-11. Curry’s basket with 15 seconds left in the half pulled Iola back to within 15-13 at the break.
The Chargers’ Harmony John took over in the second half.
She scored the first six points of the third quarter before Hesse ended Iola’s 5-minute scoring drought with back-to-back buckets.
The Chargers stretched the lead to double digits from long range. John hit three times from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter as the lead swelled to 38-23.
Harper Desmarteau and Kyndal Bycroft both hit 3-pointers for Iola in the waning moments, but the Mustangs drew no closer than nine.
“Turnovers killed us tonight,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if it was nerves or fatigue. And they started hitting, and we didn’t adjust well. That’s on me.”
Hesse was a notable exception. She poured in 17 of Iola’s 31, most coming off strong inside moves or offensive putbacks.
“She’s definitely a spark for us,” Johnson said. “It’s great having her come off the bench. You know she’s always going to go hard.”
Curry followed with six.
John poured in 21 to pace Cherryvale.
Iola (5-6) returns to action Thursday at home against Santa Fe Trail before heading to Burlington Friday.
