Grizzly second-half run does in FSHS girls

ALTAMONT, Kan. -- Labette County's girls dominated an eight-minute stretch of play from the middle of the third quarter into the fourth at Harrison Gymnasium here Friday night as they took a 58-43 win over Fort Scott High School in the opening game of Southeast Kansas League play.

The game was supposed to be a showdown of state-ranked teams and that's how it was for the first 20 minutes of play. The Tigers, ranked sixth in Class 4A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, and Labette County, ranked No. 10 in 4A, were tied 27-27 with four minutes left in the third quarter.

But the Grizzlies went on a 21-1 run and with 4:13 left in the contest, held a 20-point lead that the Tigers would not be able to overcome.

Fort Scott fell to 9-3 overall this season while Labette County improved to 11-2. The Tigers will play their next three games at home starting with Tuesday night's SEK contest against Independence.

LCHS had threatened to pull away early in the first half as it jumped out to a 12-5 lead. But the Tigers fought back and tied it at 15-15 with one second left in the opening stanza on a pair of free throws by Joce Allen.

Labette County scored six of the first eight of the second with Jordon O'Brien taking a steal in for a layup to cap the run. The All-State senior guard, who will play for Western Illinois next season, also appeared to give the Grizzlies some momentum for the second by going upcourt unchecked for a buzzer-beating jumper from the free-throw line go put LCHS up 25-21.

As it turned out, it was Fort Scott that came out of the locker room with the momentum. Joce Allen, the Tigers' 5' 4" point guard, went into the low post and scored a layup to start the half. Sami Wood countered for Labette with a transition layup.

Jayci McKenney took a pass from Lauren Allen in for a layup and Kori Page Rienbolt put in two free throws for the Tigers as they tied it with 4:08 left in the third.

Labette's run began with five straight points from 6' 3" sophomore Kendra Frazier. Then O'Brien took a pass from Frazier and nailed a three-pointer from the right wing.

The Grizzlies led 37-27 after three and the assault continued until Krista Goltra broke the run with a layup with 4:02 left in the contest.

Labette County made 55 percent of its shots from the field in the game, going 22 of 40 overall. The Grizzlies made 11 of 19 fielders in the second half, including seven of 10 in the fourth quarter. Fort Scott was held to 38 percent field-goal shooting for the game on 16 of 42.

O'Brien finished with 21 points for LCHS as she made nine of 14 shots from the field. Frazier went six of eight from the floor in following up with 16 points for the Grizzlies.

Allen led Fort Scott with 14 points, followed by McKenney with 11 and Goltra, who made only three of 16 from the field, with 10.

The Grizzlies outrebounded the Tigers, 28-23. Frazier had nine boards for LCHS while Allen, never afraid to go inside, had six for Fort Scott.

Fort Scott also fell in the junior varsity game, 41-32. Elizabeth Meech scored 16 points for the Tigers.