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Tiger girls survive Purple Dragon rally, 56-52
Fort Scott High's girls, the third seed in a very tough Class 4A Sub-State Tournament, got off to a fast start against rival Pittsburg in a quarterfinal game at the FSHS gymnasium Thursday night. And it was a good thing they did because they had to survive a Purple Dragon rally to escape with a 56-52 victory and advance to tonight's 6:15 p.m. semifinal contest.
Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League teams won the other three games. No. 7 seed Columbus upset No. 2 Prairie View in the day's opening contest, 57-46. Top seed Frontenac handled Anderson County, 67-43. And No. 4 Girard got by CNC rival Baxter Springs, 42-26. More on those three games can be seen in the summary at the bottom of this page.
The Tigers (15-5), now winners of 10 straight games, got 6 consecutive points from Katren Rienbolt as they went out to an 8-2 lead in the first 3 1/2 minutes. She also sparked a 13-0 run near the end of the quarter with a 3-point shot from the left wing. Then Ashley Cook followed with back-to-back triples, Brianne Lawrence converted a 3-point play the old-fashioned way and Cook made 1 of 2 free throws to make it 23-6 with 45 seconds to go. Lizzy Willis scored for Pittsburg to close out the period.
Rienbolt hit another 3-point shot to open the second quarter. But nobody's momentum carries forever and this was a rivalry game with the loser's season ending. There was no way Pittsburg (13-7) was going down without a fight.
"This is Sub-State basketball," Fort Scott head coach Jeff Armstrong observed. "If you play a game and it's too easy, then you lucked out. We knew going in that this wasn't going to be an easy one. Even when were up in the first quarter ... we knew Pittsburg wasn't going away."
The Purple Dragons, who had won five of their previous six games going into Sub-State, started to creep back slowly. A strong performance at the free-throw line helped bring them within 29-18 with 2:14 to go. But the Tigers scored 6 of the last 9 points of the quarter and went into the half with a 14-point lead.
Fort Scott was still up 13 late in the third after Cook hit a 3-point shot to make it 43-30 with 3:07 to go. Katy Short hit a 3-point shot and Brianna Maxwell converted a 3-point play for Pittsburg to bring them to within 7 before Cook capped the quarter with a jumper from the free-throw line.
When Rienbolt drove the baseline for a layup with 4:33 left, the Tigers were still up 50-40. Cook gathered a loose ball in the paint and put it in the basket with 1:28 left to make it 52-44.
Pittsburg tightened things up by scoring 6 points in 25 seconds. Alaura Short scored a layup with 1:13 to go. The Tigers turned the ball over on the inbound play and Katy Short scored. Then another turnover put the ball in the hands of Lizzy Willis, who hit a jump shot with 48 seconds left that brought Pittsburg within 52-50.
Maddi Allen made two free throws with 39 seconds left, making it a two-possession game again. Then the Dragons turned the ball over when one of their players tried to set up a screen but inadvertently blocked the ball handler. Sidney Maycumber was there to pick up the ball.
The Dragons fouled Rienbolt, who made both free throws with 18 seconds to go, making it 56-50.
Bethanne Elliott drew a foul on a 3-point shot with 9.7 seconds to go and made 2 of the 3 free throws.
The Tigers turned over the inbound pass. Katy Short got the ball and missed a 3-point shot. Elliott got the rebound but missed a short shot at the buzzer.
And the Tigers lived to play another day. Tonight, in fact, against Columbus (13-8), this tournament Cinderella based on the seeding.
"We still did good things even in times even when it may not have looked great," Armstrong said. "(Pittsburg) did what they needed to do to be successful and we did what we needed to do to be successful. We were a little bit more successful tonight and that's what matters."
Rienbolt went 9 of 18 from the field and finished with 23 points, surpassing her season high of 20 set in the Tigers' last game at Chanute on February 19. Cook added 17 points -- making four 3-point shots.
Willis led Pittsburg with 15 points as she made 7 of 12 shots from the floor. Alaura Short added 12.
The Tigers shot 49 percent from the field in the game, making 21 of 43 field-goal attempts, including 7 of 12 from behind the 3-point arc. Pittsburg shot 36 percent on 17 of 47 but made 17 of 20 free throws.
Lawrence led the Tigers with 7 rebounds as Fort Scott outrebounded Pittsburg, 31-24. Allen handed out 7 assists.
Tonight's other girls' semifinal has Frontenac (17-4) taking on Girard (15-6) at 3:15 p.m. Boys semifinals feature No. 4 seed Girard taking on top seed Anderson County at 4:45 p.m. and host Fort Scott, the No. 7 seed, battling Pittsburg at 7:45 p.m.
(5) PITTSBURG: Beitzinger 0-0 2-2 2, Phalen 0-3 0-0 0, Vogel 0-5 0-0 0, Elliott 1-9 7-8 9, Willis 7-12 1-2 15, Bollinger 0-1 0-0 0, K.Short 3-5 0-0 7, A.Short 4-9 4-5 12, Maxwell 2-3 3-3 7. TOTALS: 17-47 17-20 52.
(4) FORT SCOTT: Tourtillott 0-0 0-2 0, Allen 0-1 2-2 2, Sh.Maycumber 0-0 0-0 0, Rienbolt 9-18 2-2 12, Hasenplaugh 0-0 0-0 0, Cook 6-11 1-2 17, Si.Maycumber 2-4 0-0 4, Lawrence 2-5 2-5 6, Lattimer 2-4 0-1 4. TOTALS: 21-43 7-14 56.
Pittsburg........... 8 13 15 16 -- 52
Fort Scott......... 23 12 10 11 -- 56
Three-point field goals: Pittsburg 1-13 (K.Short 1-2, Phalen 0-1, Vogel 0-3, Willis 0-3, Elliott 0-4), Fort Scott 7-12 (Cook 4-8, Rienbolt 3-4).
Total fouls: Pittsburg 14, Fort Scott 18. Fouled out: Lawrence. Technical fouls: None.
Rebounds: Pittsburg 24 (Willis 6), Fort Scott 31 (Lawrence 7). Assists: Pittsburg 5 (Vogel 2, K.Short 2), Fort Scott 11 (Allen 7). Turnovers: Pittsburg 11, Fort Scott 15. Steals: Pittsburg 10 (Vogel 3), Fort Scott 6 (Tourtillott 2). Blocked shots: Pittsburg 1 (Vogel), Fort Scott 2 (Si.Maycumber, Lattimer).