WELLSVILLE — Iola could not keep pace with Wellsville as the Eagles sprinted to a 54-33 senior night victory Monday.
A mixture of Wellsville’s motivation to secure a Pioneer League title and Iola 10 days removed from their last game concocted a dangerous brew for the Mustangs, who struggled to find an answer for the Eagles’ offensive attack.
“They’re tough. They have two girls who are exceptional,” Iola coach Kelsey Johnson said. “What I liked about our girls tonight is I had girls dig in and say ‘OK, we’re not going to let this get out of hand.’ It’s good to see some of those girls step up even though it didn’t go our way.”
With its aggressive defense, the Eagles showed no fear in forcing Iola to pick up its points from the free-throw line, halting any chance of the Mustangs generating momentum. On the other end of the court, Wellsville executed its quick-movement offense to near perfection as they jumped out to a 16-8 lead by the end of the first quarter and maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the contest.
“It didn’t go our way. We struggled to get open on our wing. We struggled to run our offense. It was a tough night for us,” Johnson said.
Despite the loss, Iola did have a few positives. Senior forwards Alana Mader had a breakout performance with a team-leading 12 points. And while senior forward Reese Curry scored her customary 8 points, sophomore guard Brooklyn Holloway stepped up for 5 points.
“That is exciting stuff. We have been telling them all year long, ‘You can all be the leading scorer tonight,’” Johnson said. “‘It could be any of you tonight.’ Alana was playing strong tonight. She was being aggressive inside. Those are things we know she can do. She does it in practice, but she did it all game tonight.”
Monday’s loss evened Iola’s record to 10-10 and they finished fourth in the Pioneer League at 5-7. With more players getting into the mix, specifically the seniors, Johnson looks forward to seeing the girls take the home court one last time Tuesday. With Iola unable to make up its twice postponed game against Pioneer League rival Osawatomie, the Mustangs host the Erie Red Devils Tuesday for senior night.
As far as the KSHSAA sub-state tournament, Iola heads on the road to face Prairie View (11-6, 7-5) Thursday. The Buffalos defeated the Mustangs in both of their previous encounters. The first came in a 49-35 blowout in December. The second, and most contentious, was a little more than two weeks ago, when Prairie View escaped with a 45-44 victory on their home court.
“We need a good team effort [Tuesday] going into Thursday,” Johnson said. “We need a good team effort, where we’re all together. We’re all picking each other up whoever it is. That’s what [senior night] is to us. Getting back together as a team and getting ready for Thursday.”
Wellsville (16-13-13-12—54)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Viets 5/2 4 1 19
Spring 2 0 2 4
Green 3/3 1 4 16
West 3 4 3 10
Lasswell 1 0 1 2
Lyte 1 0 1 2
Totals 15/8 9 12 54
Iola (8-11-5-9—33)
Holloway 1/1 0 1 5
Bycroft 1 1 1 3
Clift 1 1 0 3
Mader 2 7 0 11
Desmarteau 1 0 1 3
Hesse 0 0 2 0
Curry 3 2 3 8
Totals 8/2 11 6 28
