Defense, rebounds lead to win

Fort Scott senior Jenny Denton (15) follows her shot on its way to the basket during the first half of play Wednesday night. Denton scored 6 points in the Tigers’ 41-26 win over the Bulldogs.

Brian Wade/Special to the Tribune

Defense and rebounding were the keys for Fort Scott High’s girls in a Southeast Kansas League make-up game with Independence at the FSHS gymnasium Wednesday night.

The Tigers (9-2 SEK, 11-7 overall) dominated the boards 43-21 and held the visiting Bulldogs to 21-percent field-goal shooting in a 41-26 victory that extended their winning streak to eight games, tied for the fifth-longest streak in the program’s history. They also salvaged a season split with the Bulldogs (6-5, 11-8) and moved a game ahead of them for the No. 2 seed in next weekends Fort Scott Class 4A-Division I Sub-State Tournament, which will be seeded today.

With the win, the Tigers also assured themselves of no worse than second place in the SEK.

An extremely defensive opening quarter had only three total points in it before Madison Cook found Kharsyn Dwyer for a 3-pointer that put Fort Scott ahead, 4-1, with 3:35 to go. Dwyer also added two free throws while Indy’s Taylor Howland drove in for a basket with 22 seconds left for the only other points of the quarter.

But while the Tigers offense slowly got better over the course of the rest of the game, Indy’s never did. The Bulldogs made only eight field goals all night on 38 attempts and never had more than two fielder go in during any quarter.

Skyelar Brown scored 5 straight points midway through the second on a 3-pointer from the right wing and on a drive for a layup to make it 15-8 with 3:52 remaining. Two free throws from Cook made it 17-12 at the half.

Indy’s only baskets in the third were a pair of 3-pointers. After the second one by Lyssa Schabel with 2:29 to go brought her team within 25-18, the Tigers scored the next 10. Ella Beth fed Jocie Allen for a transition basket, then Cook stuck back a teammate’s miss. Cook followed with a pair of free throws and Beth scored a layup with 6/10ths of a second to close out the quarter. Then Beth found Denton in transition for a basket to start the fourth quarter, making it 35-18.

Cook posted a double-double for the Tigers, scoring 14 points and collecting 15 rebounds. Dwyer finished with 8 points. Beth handed out 3 assists and Brown picked up 3 steals.

Schable led Independence with 9 points. Only Howland scored more than one field goal.

Indy’s eight successful field goals were the fewest allowed by a Fort Scott team since February 17 of last season when the Tigers held Coffeyville to 9-of-44 in a 48-28 victory.

Cook pushed her career total to 891 points in the win. This put her 26 poinds behind Katren Rienbolt (2010-14) for third place on the Tigers’ scoring list.

INDEPENDENCE: Howland 2-11 1-2 5, Lawrie 1-1 0-0 2, Schabel 1-3 6-8 9, Wilson 1-1 1-4 3, Mavers 0-2 0-0 0, Eytcheson 1-7 0-0 3, Ewing 1-10 0-0 2, Cunningham 1-3 0-0 2. TOTALS: 8-38 8-14 26.

FORT SCOTT: Beth 1-3 0-0 2, J.Allen 1-4 0-0 1, Brown 2-11 1-2 6, Denton 3-5 0-0 6, Stumfoll 0-2 1-2 1, Dwyer 1-5 5-6 8, Humble 0-0 0-0 0, Cook 3-7 7-8 14, Nelson 1-2 0-1 2. TOTALS: 12-39 14-19 41.

Fort Scott................... 6 11 16 8 — 41

Three-point field goals: Independence 2-15 (Schabel 1-1, Eytcheson 1-6, Mavers 0-1, Ewing 0-2, Howland 0-5), Fort Scott 3-8 (Cook 1-1, Dwyer 1-2, Brown 1-4, Beth 0-1).

Total fouls: Independence 14, Fort Scott 13. Fouled out: None.

Rebounds: Independence 21 (Mavers 5), Fort Scott 43 (Cook 15). Assists: Independence 2 (Lawrie, Cunningham), Fort Scott 8 (Beth 3). Turnovers: Independence 10, Fort Scott 14. Steals: Independence 7 (Howland 3), Fort Scott 8 (Brown 3). Blocked shots: Independence 2 (Schabel, Wilson), Fort Scott 2 (Stumfoll, Dwyer).