Tiger girls, Parsons boys win 2-point SEK contests

Fort Scott's Ashley Cook (25) looks for an option as Parsons' Morgan Hizey (12) and Shay Kelly defend during play Tuesday night. Cook scored 10 of her game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter of the Tigers' 40-38 victory. (Sean Frye/Parsons Sun)

PARSONS -- Fort Scott High's girls held off a Parsons rally to take a 40-38 victory as Southeast Kansas League play opened at the Harold C. Johnson gymnasium here Tuesday night.

Unfortunately for Tiger fans, the boys were unable to hold off a Viking rally in the nightcap as Dannerick Yates' desperation layup went in with 1.6 seconds to go to give Parsons a 51-49 victory.

Tiger girls broke a five-game league losing streak going back to last season. The last SEK win for the girls came at Parsons by a 40-36 score on February 6.

Kaleb DeLaTorre scored a personal-best 26 points for Fort Scott's boys. But the Vikings rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit to take the lead for the first time with 2:50 remaining in the contest.

Fort Scott girls 40, Parsons 38.

Someone named Cook was the dominant player for the Tigers (1-0 SEK, 2-2 overall) at some point during the game. Ashley Cook scored more than half of Fort Scott's points in the first quarter and added 10 in the fourth quarter as she finished with 15. Madison Cook scored 8 of her 14 points in the third quarter, helping the Tigers while Parsons was controlling A. Cook in the middle two periods, holding her scoreless.

The Vikings (0-1, 2-2) jumped out to a 9-0 lead as Megan Hizey scored the last 4 points. Cook hit a 3-point shot to start a 7-0 run for the Tigers. But Brenna Forbes reclaimed the lead for the Vikes on a putback with three seconds to go.

Neither team scored for the first four minutes of the second until Fort Scott's Emily Hale and Jenny Denton produced consecutive baskets to put the Tigers ahead, 13-11.

Sidney Krull tied the score for Parsons. Then Madison Cook scored a basket with 1:40 to go and made one of two free throws with 1:10 left to put Fort Scott ahead 16-13. Forbes tied the score with a 3-point goal with five seconds to go.

M. Cook scored the first 4 points of the second half and Hale converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to put Fort Scott up 23-16 with 6:14 left in the third. Then Parsons scored 9 of the next 11, tying it at 25-25 on Kelly's 3-point play.

M.Cook made it 28-25 with under two minutes to go. Morgan Hizey connected on a 3-point shot to tie the score going into the final stanza.

Ashley Cook was able to start beating the box-and-one defense Parsons was using on her and scored two baskets to start the fourth quarter, putting Fort Scott up 32-30 with 5:10 to go.

Two minutes after that Kelly scored a basket for Parsons but the Tigers scored the next five, making it 37-30 on A. Cook's basket with less than a minute remaining.

Kelly, the only Viking to score in the fourth quarter, converted another 3-point play to cut the lead to four points. Hale made one of two free throws with 18 seconds to go. Kelly made both of hers with nine seconds left.

A. Cook then made two free throws to extend the Tiger lead to 40-35. Kelly hit a 3-point shot with 4/10ths of a second to go but all the Tigers had to do was get the ball inbounds to finally seal the deal.

A. Cook scored 15 points for Fort Scott, boosting her career total to 952 points. The second-leading scorer in the history of the girls' program now needs 48 to reach 1,000 for her high-school career and 164 to pass all-time leader Jolee Sharp.

M. Cook added 14 points, a new personal high for the sophomore post, who scored in double figures for the first time in a varsity contest.

Kelly finished with 18 points to lead Parsons. No other Viking had more than 6.

Parsons boys 51, Fort Scott 49.

DeLaTorre scored the game's first 7 points and Brody Southwell added two more as Fort Scott (0-1, 1-3) jumped out to a 9-1 lead. That grew to 15-5 by the end of the period.

Another 9-1 run midway through the second made it 24-10 after Josh Hudiburg's score. Dakolby Johnson hit two baskets for Parsons to narrow the gap to 10 points.

The Tigers' lead reached its apex on DeLaTorre's jumper with two minutes to go. That made it a 15-point game, 29-14. A pair of Parsons free throws brought that down to 13 at the half.

The Tigers were still ahead 36-25 after a Hudiburg basket midway through the third. But Donte Gress made a 3-pointer for Parsons that parked a 9-1 lead to end the period. Jacob Almond scored the last 4 of the third and also made two free throws to start the fourth.

A 6-2 run capped by Hudiburg's basket made it 45-38 for the Tigers. But Parsons scored the next 8 to take a four-point lead.

DeLaTorre made two free throws with 1:30 left. Marcus Stepps tied the game with a layup off a Hudiburg steal.

Johnson scored two free throws with 1:13 remaining. Hudiburg's tip-in tied the score at 49-49 with 50 seconds to go.

Parsons worked the clock down to 11 seconds before calling time out. Yates' layup put the Vikes ahead and Fort Scott called time out with 1.6 seconds on the clock.

Hudiburg threw a long inbound pass to Stepps, who got off a shot from the left elbow. It was short and rebounded by DeLaTorre, whose follow-up wouldn't fall.

Hudiburg added 10 points for the Tigers. Almond led Parsons with 15 points and Gress added 11.

The junior varsity boys fell 51-50. Brady Tourtillott scored 16 points to lead the Tigers. Jesse Jones added 14.

Both Tiger teams play their home openers Friday night versus SEK rival Chanute. After that, Fort Scott goes on its holiday break.

Girls

FORT SCOTT: Torres 0 0-0 0, Brown 1 0-0 2, Westhoff 0 0-0 0, J.Denton 1 0-0 2, Allen 0 0-0 0, Hale 2 3-5 7, A.Cook 5 4-4 15, Dwyer 0 0-0 0, H.Denton 0 0-0 0, M.Cook 5 4-8 14, Reed 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14 11-17 40.

PARSONS: Mo.Hizey 1 0-0 3, Forbes 2 0-2 5, Kelly 6 4-7 18, Me.Hizey 3 0-0 6, Folk 1 0-0 2, Krull 2 0-0 4, Dunlay 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15 4-9 38.

Parsons....................... 11 5 12 10 -- 38

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 1 (A.Cook), Parsons 4 (Kelly 2, Mo.Hizey, Forbes).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 13, Parsons 17. Fouled out: None.

Boys

FORT SCOTT: DeLaTorre 7 9-12 26, Southwell 1 0-0 2, Hudiburg 5 0-0 10, Thomas 0 0-0 0, Phillips 0 0-0 0, Stepps 3 0-0 6, Robinson 0 0-0 0, Goldston 1 0-0 3, Cook 1 0-2 2. TOTALS: 18 9-14 49.

PARSONS: D.Gress 4 2-6 11, Johnson 3 3-5 9, Da.Yates 1 2-2 4, Almond 5 4-6 15, Green 3 2-4 9, Dyke 0 0-0 0, De.Yates 1 1-2 3. TOTALS: 17 14-25 51.

Parsons....................... 5 11 18 17 -- 51

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 4 (DeLaTorre 3, Goldston), Parsons 3 (D.Gress, Almond, Green).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 19, Parsons 14. Fouled out: None.