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Tiger pressure wilts Blue Comets
A 9-0 run late in the first half of a Southeast Kansas League contest at the FSHS gymnasium Tuesday night broke open a close game and gave Fort Scott High's girls some breathing room in a 51-27 rout of Chanute.
The Tigers improved to 3-1 in the SEK and 3-4 overall just in time to take a long break for the holidays. KSHSAA rules will keep the players from even stepping into the gym for three days during the break and Fort Scott won't play again until Jan. 4 when it hosts Parsons.
"We're finding ourselves," Fort Scott head coach Jeff Armstrong said. "We played pretty well tonight. Going into break and not being able to practice, or even get into the gym some days, is tough. The girls are anxious to get back to the gym as well."
After losing their first three games of the season to tough competition at the Willard (Mo.) Tri-State Classic, the Tigers have won three of their last four games.
The Blue Comets, 2-3, 2-4, couldn't handle the Tigers' full-court pressure, committing most of their 36 turnovers against it. It got to the point where it seemed Chanute was beginning to anticipate the double-teams and committing turnovers just because it knew what was coming.
"The girls did a good job of creating turnovers," Armstrong said. "And we weren't necessarily reaching in and trying to steal the ball. It was just playing real solid, tough defense. When you get turnovers, you get into transition, you get layups, you get them maybe not matched up properly on defense, so you get some mismatches. For us, that's how we get a lot of our points: from turnovers and creating and scoring off of them. The girls did a very good job of taking advantage of those."
Fort Scott had 24 steals -- seven by Joce Allen and six by Jolee Sharp -- in the contest. They also won the battle of the boards by 10, 34-24.
The Tigers started the game quickly, with Sharp scoring five of their first seven points. The Comets withstood this initial flurry and managed to get within one with 2:10 to go in the first quarter.
Chanute was able to stay within three most of the second period until Allen sparked the half-ending run with a three-point goal. Allen then converted Kori Page Rienbolt's steal into a layup. Elizabeth Meech stuck back a teammate's miss and Sharp converted a steal into a score with 29 seconds to go to increase the Tigers' lead to 26-14 at the half.
The momentum continued into the second half as Allen and Sharp took passes from Rienbolt for baskets to make it 30-14 just over a minute into the third quarter.
Fort Scott's best actually came last as the Tigers extended a 33-20 lead by scoring six straight to start the fourth quarter. The defense also forced 12 turnovers in that period alone.
Another 8-0 run later in the period made it 47-22 with just over three minutes left in the contest.
Sharp had another double-double for the Tigers as she made seven of 12 shots from the field to finish with a game-high 15 points and also grabbed 12 rebounds. Allen hit on five of nine fielders as she finished with 13 points. Afton Gray added eight points while Meech scored six and grabbed six rebounds off the bench.
Shalee Ratliff led Chanute with nine points. Only one other Comet, Dani Bagshaw, had as many as six points.
Fort Scott shot 40 percent from the field, making 20 of 50 field-goal attempts, and was also nine of 12 at the free-throw line. The Tigers connected on seven of 10 fielders in the final stanza.
Chanute shot 37 percent on 13 of 35 and was just one of seven at the charity stripe.
JUNIOR VARSITY -- The Tigers defeated Chanute, 34-23, as Breianna Jones and Monica Dikeman each scored eight points. Fort Scott held the Comets to one point in the second quarter and went into the locker room with a 24-7 lead.
FRESHMEN -- Chanute handed the Tigers a 61-22 loss. Jenna Campbell scored eight points for Fort Scott while Megan McDermed scored seven and had six rebounds.
CHANUTE: Bagshaw 3-4 0-0 6, Haight 1-3 0-0 2, Weilert 1-1 0-0 2, Sharp 2-2 0-2 4, Braman 1-4 0-1 2, Aylward 0-3 0-0 0, Murry 1-11 0-0 2, Ratliff 4-6 1-4 9, Thomen 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-35 1-7 27.
FORT SCOTT: Gray 2-13 4-4 8, J.Allen 5-9 2-3 13, Cavin 0-0 0-0 0, Sharp 7-12 0-1 15, Womeldorff 0-0 2-2 2, Simpson 0-1 0-0 0, Rienbolt 1-4 1-2 3, Hawkins 1-3 0-0 2, Bingesser 0-0 0-0 0, Collins 0-0 0-0 0, R.Allen 1-4 0-0 2, Meech 3-4 0-0 6. TOTALS: 20-50 9-12 51.
Chanute................. 8 6 6 7 -- 27
Fort Scott.............. 11 15 7 18 -- 51
Three-point field goals: Chanute 0-1 (Murry 0-1), Fort Scott 2-7 (J.Allen 1-2, Sharp 1-2, Gray 0-3).
Total fouls: Chanute 15, Fort Scott 16. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none.
Rebounds: Chanute 24 (Alyward 7), Fort Scott 34 (Sharp 12). Assists: Chanute 7 (Weilert 2), Fort Scott 11 (Rienbolt 3). Turnovers; Chanute 36, Fort Scott 26. Steals: Chanute 7 (Ratliff 3), Fort Scott 24 (J.Allen 7). Blocked shots: Chanute 1 (Braman), Fort Scott 2 (Sharp, Rienbolt).