WELLSVILLE — The Iola High girls made it a night to remember in their 46-29 victory against Wellsville.
The Mustang girls (6-14) dominated the paint and scored almost all of their baskets underneath the basket in the win.
The Iola boys (8-11) struggled to do much of anything good in a 58-20 loss to the Eagles.
Iola girls
From the jump, the Mustangs dominated the play. Karingten Hall and Reese Curry led in the scoring with four points apiece for a 12-4 advantage by the end of the first quarter. Katelyn West provided most of Wellsville’s production, including a layup in the first.
Keira Fawson and Curry were big factors for Iola underneath the rim. Each went for layups in the second to combine for six points. Aysha Houk also found her stroke from a distance and sank a pair of three-point baskets before halftime.
“It really started on the defensive end,” said Iola head coach Kelsey Johnson. “We were scoring easily which is always nice but we made good stops. When you hold a team to 10 points in the first half that’s pretty great defense. We’ve been focusing on that a lot.”
Iola led Wellsville at halftime, 25-10.
The Mustangs experienced their best quarter in the third when they outscored the home team, 14-9. Houk sank a three and a layup and Curry went for another couple of layups to take a 39-19 lead.
“More girls have started coming into their roles,” Johnson said. “Keira was really posting up and calling for the ball inside. She saw mismatches, so just experience and gaining confidence has helped a lot. Aysha’s gotten really good at trusting her teammates too.”
Wellsville’s West spelled a wee bit of trouble for Iola in the second quarter when she posted a trio of layups but it wasn’t enough to make a difference. West then banked in another couple of layups in the fourth to finish her night with a team-high 13 points.
Fawson put up a couple of layups and Houk also drove the lane for a two-point basket in the fourth to secure a 46-29 victory for Iola.
The Mustangs were led offensively by Houk’s 15 points, Curry’s 13 points and Fawson’s 11.
Iola boys
The night didn’t go as planned for the Mustangs when they fell behind 15-2 through the opening five minutes of the game. Landon Weide was the only Mustang to score a basket in the first quarter with one more in the second by Lucas Maier.
“They were scared to death and they played like it from the tip-off,” Iola head coach Luke Bycroft said. “Soft and scared. They didn’t think we ever had a chance to win. When you play like that you obviously don’t have a chance to win.”
Iola trailed 44-4 at halftime.
The Mustangs had their highest scoring quarter of nine points in the third when Mac Leonard hit a three and a layup and Weide put up a couple of two point baskets. Iola trailed Wellsville 56-13 at the end of the third and lost by a total of 38 points, 58-20.
Iola was led offensively by Leonard’s 10 points and Weide’s six points.
