Iola Middle School’s seventh-graders ended with a flourish Monday.
Twice.
The Mustang girls won both the seventh-grade A and B games with late rallies sparked by balanced scoring against visiting Burlington.
In the A contest, Iola broke open a 12-12 deadlock with field goals from four different girls to come away with a 20-16 victory.
In the B team matchup, Iola outscored Burlington 8-0 in the second quarter — also with four different players registering field goals — to win, 12-6, in a two-quarter affair.
Burlington prevailed in the sole eighth-grade game, 45-9. (Of note, Iola suits up only three eighth-graders and must rely on its seventh-graders to help fill the roster in those games.)
Burlington led 6-4 after the first quarter of the seventh-grade B team game before Iola’s Eliana Higginbotham, Mary Burris, Blake Folk and Bayleigh Scheibmeir each scored in the final stanza.
Higginbotham, who scored both of Iola’s buckets in the first quarter, led the Mustangs with six points.
Iola maintained a slight advantage through the first three quarters of the seventh-grade A team contest before Burlington scored late in the third period to knot the score at 12-12.
But Iola responded quickly in the fourth period, scoring four straight points to open the frame and stay in front for good.
Haidyn Desmarteau led the way with seven points. Breighlynn Rutherford was next with four. Kinzley Fountain notched three, while Kashyn Curry, Cam Wille and Kailyn Rodriguez all had two.
Burlington had control from the outset of the eighth-grade matchup, leading 11-2 after one period and 20-4 at the break. Curry, Fountain, Desmarteau and Wille each had field goals for the Mustangs. Rutherford added a free throw.
