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Cook scores school-record 39 points
WILLARD, Mo. -- Fort Scott High swept host Willard here Friday night on the second day of the Four-State Classic, each improving to 1-1 on the season and in the round-robin tournament.
Ashley Cook scored a school-record 39 points for the girls in a 60-53 victory over Willard (1-3). She made 6 3-point shots, one shy of her own school record.
Kaleb DeLaTorre scored 22 points, matching his personal best score, in leading the boys to a 52-39 win over Willard (0-3). The Tigers outscored the hosts 33-14 in the second half.
Both teams play Broken Arrow, Okla., today. The girls play at 1 p.m. and the boys at 4:14. Broken Arrow's girls are 2-0 in the tournament while the boys are 1-1 after a loss to Harrison, Ark., on Friday, which improved the Goblins to 2-0 in the tourney.
Girls: Fort Scott 60, Willard 53.
Cook, a senior, scored 22 points in the first half alone and had 30 after three quarters, which made her one of just three girls to ever score 30 points in a game.
A free-throw with 2:43 remaining put her at 35 points, breaking the old school record held by Jolee Sharp set against Chanute on Feb. 12, 2010. Sharp had 33 points against Parsons four days later. Nicole Brown had 30 against Willard in the 2001 tournament and Sharp matched that on Jan. 26, 2010 against Coffeyville.
But it was Willard that came out blazing, outscoring the Tigers 12-3 to open the game and leading 24-15 after one after making five 3-point shots.
Shytanna Reed started a half-ending 13-0 run with a layup then Cook scored the remaining 11 points in a row, making a pair of free throws to tie the score at 28-28 and a 3-point shot to close out the half and give the Tigers the lead, which they never relinquished.
Skyelar Brown started the fourth with a 3-point goal to extend Fort Scott's lead to 47-35. Willard got within 47-43 early in the fourth after scoring 8 straight points. Although the Tigers didn't score another field goal following Brown's bomb, they were successful on 13 of 16 free throws.
Up 54-51 with about a minute to go, Cassidy Westhoff took a charge, which proved to be a key play. Willard had to start fouling and scored only 2 more points.
Kennedy Burch scored 20 points to lead Willard, 12 in the first quarter. Joran Stout-Mitchell added 17 for the host school.
Cook has made at least four 3-point goals in a game 16 times during her high-school career, which includes her school-record 7 triples made against Olathe Heritage Christian last February. Just seven other players have made at least four 3's in a single game with only Krista Goltra doing so more than once.
Boys: Fort Scott 52, Willard 39.
DeLaTorre matched his personal-best of 22 points that he scored in a loss to Spring Hill when he was a sophomore. he had all 6 of the Tigers' points in the first quarter.
As other Fort Scott players got going, oddly enough most of Willard's offense cooled off. At one point in the second quarter, Willard led 20-8. But Brody Southwell scored a basket and grant Goldston hit a 3-pointer to get the Tigers going.
Willard still led 25-19 at the half and Kenny Chambers scored a pair of free throws to start the second half. But Fort Scott outscored Willard 16-4 the rest of the quatyer, taking the lead on DeLaTorre's 3-point goal with about three minutes remaining.
Willard got within 39-35 on Elijah Davis' layup with four minutes left in the game. But the Tigers held the host squad without a score for more than three minutes while going on an 11-0 run sparked by Goldston's stickback of a teammate's missed shot.
Goldston added a personal-best 15 points for the Tigers while Marcus Stepps finished with 9. Fort Scott went 17 of 26 at the free-throw line, taking advantage of 25 Willard fouls.
Chambers led Willard with 22 points, but he didn't have much support in the second half. He scored all 6 of his team's points in the third quarter and 10 of the 14 they scored in the second half with Davis providing the other 4 points.
Willard also went to the free-throw line just 11 times and made only 4 of their charity tosses.
Both Tiger teams have a chance of winning the tournament if they beat Broken Arrow today, get some help from Willard against Harrison and hope tiebreakers go their way.
Girls
FORT SCOTT: Torres 0 0-0 0, Brown 1 0-0 3, Westhoff 1 2-2 4, J.Denton 0 1-2 1, Hale 1 0-0 2, A.Cook 10 13-14 39, H.Denton 1 0-0 2, M.Cook 1 4-6 6, Reed 1 0-0 2, Dwyer 0 1-2 1, Allen 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 21-26 60.
WILLARD, Mo.: Stout- Mitchell 7 3-4 17, Wade 3 0-0 9, Burch 7 2-3 20, Bradley 0 1-2 1, Parker 1 2-2 4, Mahan 1 0-0 2, Bates 0 0-0 0, Perkins 0 0-0 0, Carroll 0 0-0 0, Berry 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19 8-11 53.
Fort Scott.. 15 16 13 16 -- 60
Willard... 24 4 7 18 -- 53
Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 7 (A.Cook 6, Brown), Willard 7 (Burch 4, Wade 3).
Total fouls: Fort Scott Fort Scott 16, Willard 20. Fouled out: Burch.
Boys
FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 7 6-7 22, Southwell 1 0-1 2, Goldston 4 6-11 15, Stepps 3 3-3 9, Robinson 0 0-2 0, THomas 0 0-0 0, Phillips 0 0-0 0, Cook 1 2-2 4. TOTALS: 16 17-26 52.
WILLARD, Mo.: Fickbohm 0 0-0 0, Jackson 1 0-0 3, Bird 0 0-2 0, E.Davis 4 1-2 10, Anderson 1 0-0 2, Chambers 9 3-6 22, I.Davis 0 0-1 0, Carson 0 0-0 0, Holloman 1 0-0 2, Dalton 0 0-0 0, Howard 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16 4-11 39.
Fort Scott... 6 13 16 17 -- 52
Willard... 14 11 6 8 -- 39
Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 3 (DeLaTorre 2, Goldston), Willard 3 (Jackson, E.Davis, Chambers).
Total fouls: Fort Scott 16, Willard 25. Fouled out: None.