Aubrey Jones is fond of a quote she often stresses to her Humboldt High players: “Fortune favors the fierce.”
On Thursday, the Lady Cubs and Iola High’s Mustangs illustrated how prophetic that quote can be in their War on 54 semifinal matchup.
Humboldt’s aggressive defense in the third quarter paved the way to a 22-7 run, lifting the Lady Cubs to a commanding 49-30 lead.
Iola didn’t go quietly, however.
The Mustangs twice pared their deficit to seven points down the stretch, but Humboldt warded off every attack to pull out a 53-55 win.
The victory put Humboldt in Friday’s War on 54 championship game against Anderson County, while Iola took on Cherryvale in the third-place tilt.
“We needed the girls to be in attack mode all the time, and tonight they did it,” Jones said.
Iola head coach Kelsey Johnson delivered a similar message to her players.
“The five players who were in there at the end were just going as hard as they could,” she noted.
Her question to her players afterward — why wait until the fourth quarter to do so?
“You could do this at the beginning,” she told them.
“It’s something we’ve talked about,” Johnson said. “We have to put four quarters together. We have to start out strong, and stay strong. The things they were doing in the fourth quarter were there all game long.”
Humboldt’s Ricklyn Hillmon, who has shown a knack for being in the right place at the right time every time, was a catalyst as the Lady Cubs took control.
She wound up with several interior openings for putbacks on the way to 25 points. Kenisyn Hottenstein and Shelby Shaughnessy were effective as well, adding 15 and 14 points, respectively.
“Ricklyn is really starting to come into her own,” Jones said. “Tonight, she was aggressive. It was wonderful.”
Iola had a trio of standouts as well.
Keira Fawson led the way with 16 points, while reserves Harper Desmarteau and Alana Mader were good for 12 and 10 points, respectively.
