BURLINGTON — Iola High’s girls began their evening with a shot to the nose, and ended with what felt like a punch to the gut.
The Mustangs were on the court for warmups prior to Tuesday evening’s clash with Pioneer League foe Burlington when starting center Keira Fawson went down after taking an inadvertent elbow to the face.
The injury was deemed serious enough to sideline the starting center from the game.
But even without the lanky senior in the lineup, Iola still was able to take advantage of its size advantage repeatedly, and held a three-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
It didn’t last.
Burlington freshman Mac Medlock got hot from the outside, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Wildcats the lead.
And Iola was plagued by just enough mistakes down the stretch to come up on the short end of a 41-37 defeat.
The loss drops Iola to 1-4 on the season with a road game Thursday at Prairie View to wrap up the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule.
“We just have to learn how to work together and fight back together,” Mustang head coach Kelsey Johnson said. “When something doesn’t go our way, our energy dies.”
A 2½-minute dry spell in the latter half of the fourth quarter sealed the Mustangs’ fate.
Alana Mader’s free-throw at the 3:05 mark pulled Iola to within 31-30 before Medlock hit a pair of free throws to push the Wildcats ahead by three. Iola came up dry on its next three possessions with a turnover and a pair of missed shots, and suddenly the deficit was six with 30 seconds left.
A frantic comeback attempt made things interesting. Elza Clift hit a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left, and Harper Desmarteau converted a traditional 3-point play after the Wildcats hit their free throws to make it 38-35 at the :20.2 mark.
Burlington’s Hattie Burgio went 1 of 2 from the line to make it a two-possession game once again. Kaysin Crusinbery put in a bucket to pare the deficit back to two, but it took precious seconds to do so.
Alexa Splechter hit a pair of free throws for Burlington’s final margin.
“We’ve got to get a leader going, somebody who can pull us back up when things aren’t going our way,” Johnson said. “I know it’s early, but we’ve got to have somebody who says ‘I’m not gonna let her shoot again, I’m not gonna let her score. It can be multiple girls, but we don’t have anybody right now who’s doing it consistently.
“I keep saying it’s early,” Johnson continued. “But we’ve got to be ready to go.”
Both offenses took a while in the early going to get much production. Iola focused its intentions on getting the ball inside to the likes of Mader, Desmarteau and Reese Curry, while Burlington was content to fire away from the perimeter.
