Tiger girls win barnburner over Titans, 59-51

Fort Scott’s Madison Cook (35) looks for space between Columbus defenders Nahil Fontanez (11) and Karsyn Youngblood during the first half of play in the FSHS main gymnasium Friday night. Cook led the Tigers with 24 points and 14 rebounds in the Tigers’ 59-51 victory over the Titans.

Brian Wade/Special to the Tribune

At first, it looked as though Fort Scott High’s girls were going to run away with Friday night’s game at the FSHS gymnasium. But what looked to be a blowout became a barnburner and it wasn’t until the every end when the Tigers could relax in a 59-51 win over visiting Columbus.

Jenny Denton scored off a Skyelar Brown pass from the opening up and Kelsie Nelson scored 6 of her 8 points during a game-opening 11-0 run for the Tigers (2-3). But back-to-back 3-pointers by Morgan Cassidy and Riley Haraughty sparked a 13-2 run for the Titans (3-3) to tie the game with 41 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Madison Cook’s layup with 15 seconds to go gave the lead back to Fort Scott. But the teams traded score for score in the second quarter, with the Titans going up by three several times.

Morgan Cassidy took a steal in for a layup to put Columbus up 27-25 two minutes before the half. But Brown hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Cook made one of two free throws with 1:11 to go to give the Tigers a 2-point lead.

Columbus never led again but they kept fighting off Tiger runs. Fort Scott scored 7 of the first 9 points of the second half to extend the lead to 36-28 with five minutes left in the third. The Titans scored 6 of the next 8 to get within 4 points with 1:06 to go.

Brown scored with 12 seconds left and the Tigers also scored the first 6 points of the final stanza — 4 by Cook, the last two by Nelson — to make it 46-34.

Again, the Titans fought back and, with 3-point shots and “old-fashioned” 3-point plays helping the cause, got within 51-54 with 57 seconds left. But Columbus never scored again and the Tigers made 5 of 8 free throws down the stretch.

Cook led the Tigers with 24 points and 14 rebounds as she made 7 of 15 field-goal tries and 9 of 12 free throws. Brown followed with 14 points while also picking up 5 steals.

Karsyn Youngblood, a 5’ 10” sophomore post, led Columbus with 20 point, 14 rebounds and 4 steals. No other Titan had more than 9 points.

The Tigers forced 37 turnovers and won the battle of the boards, 39-28.

Fort Scott concludes pre-holiday play by hosting Labette County in Southeast Kansas League play Tuesday night.

JUNIOR VARSITY — The junior varsity team won 47-18 over Columbus as Ella Beth scored 18 points.

COLUMBUS: Haraughty 2-3 0-0 6, Zahm 3-5 0-0 9, Fontanez 3-9 3-4 9, Cassidy 3-11 0-0 7, Gray 0-2 0-0 0, Westervelt 0-0 0-0 0, Ohmart 0-0 0-0 0, Youngblood 8-13 4-5 20. TOTALS: 19-43 7-9 51.

FORT SCOTT: Beth 1-6 2-3 4, J.Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 5-11 2-4 14, Denton 2-6 0-0 4, Dwyer 1-9 0-2 3, Humble 1-2 0-2 2, Cook 7-15 9-12 24, Nelson 4-7 0-0 8, Pryor 0-3 0-0 0, Lyons 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21-59 13-23 59.

Fort Scott............................ 15 14 11 19 — 59

Three-point field goals: Columbus 6-17 (Zahm 3-5, Haraughty 2-3, Cassidy 1-8, Gray 0-1), Fort Scott 4-16 (Brown 2-4, Cook 1-3, Dwyer 1-4, Denton 0-1, Beth 0-2, Pryor 0-2).

Total fouls: Columbus 16, Fort Scott 15. Fouled out: None.

Rebounds: Columbus 28 (Youngblood 14), Fort Scott 39 (Cook 14). Assists: Columbus 9 (Haraughty 4), Fort Scott 8 (Denton 2, Cook 2). Turnovers: Columbus 27, Fort Scott 16. Steals: Columbus 8 (Youngblood 4), Fort Scott 12 (Brown 5). Blocked shots: Columbus 1 (Youngblood), Fort Scott 1 (Cook.)