You could feel a sense of relief Tuesday evening when, for the first time in almost a month, the Iola girls basketball team got themselves a win.
The solid 43-20 plunking of Osawatomie broke a six-game losing streak and sets the Fillies (6-10) up for a possible late run of success in the final two weeks of the regular season.
They should feel good after this, head coach Becky Carlson said. Hopefully this starts some positive momentum for us. Especially with three straight games this week.
Things began slowly for both teams. The Fillies led by two, 9-7, after the first before opening up their first of two crucial runs to help put the Lady Trojans away.
Iola started the second quarter with eight unanswered points, forcing Osawatomie to be scoreless in the quarter until the 3:45 mark. A shot at the buzzer by Claudia Castellanos-Rodrigo pushed Iolas lead to double digits, 20-10.
Castellanos-Rodrigo led all scorers with 13 after having several games in which she struggled to score. But Tuesday night, she was the aggressor, beating her defenders off the dribble and scoring at the rim.
She played really well tonight and she did a good job of getting to the rim and finishing her shots, Carlson said.
The Fillies came out in the second half with that same level of energy. An 11-2 run nearly boosted Iolas lead to 20, combining solid offense complemented by a rock-solid defense that kept the Lady Trojans from mounting any type of comeback.
It helps when you make your baskets, Carlson said. A lot of the shots that rolled in for us tonight have been rolling out.
The Fillies pushed their lead to 20 with 6:45 to play and cruised to the finish line, clearing their bench and getting all varsity players in the action.
With two more games coming this week, Carlson was pleased her starters were able to rest throughout much of the second half.
It was definitely something we were looking to do, Carlson said. Hopefully we can keep everyones fresh legs intact over the next couple of days.
In addition to Castellanos-Rodrigo, senior Madisyn Holloway joined the double-figures club for the second game in a row, scoring 10.
The Fillies are at part two of their three-part week tonight when they host a Prairie View team.
The Fillies rolled to an easy road win over Prairie View back on Dec. 14.
Iola (9-11-13-1043) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Castellanos-Rodrigo 6/0-1-3-13, Holloway 2/1-3-3-10, Carson 2/0-3-2-7, Moore 3/0-0-0-6, Morrison 0/0-3-3-3, Sutterby 0/0-2-0-2, Sprague 0/0-1-3-1, Bycroft 0/0-1-0-1, Lampe 0/0-0-2-0, Kunkler 0/0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 13/1-14-17-43.
