Fort Scott senior Joce Allen (dark uniform) has a shot deflected by Labette County's Kendra Frazier (34) as Madie O'Connell (11) and Tiffany Farrow defend during the first half of play Tuesday night at Altamont. Allen scored 10 points for the Tigers but Labette County took the Southeast Kansas League contest, 57-47, as Frazier scored 29 points. (Captured Images/Kenny Felt) [Click to enlarge]

ALTAMONT -- Fort Scott High's defense, especially it's full-court press, was more than up to the task in its rematch with No. 6 Labette County at Harrison Gymnasium here Tuesday night.

However, the Tigers' offensive woes -- they shot just 17 percent from the field -- undermined that effort and the Grizzlies took a 57-47 victory that put them back in sole possession of first place in the Southeast Kansas League (9-1 SEK, 12-2 overall).

Fort Scott (8-2, 9-5) saw a seven-game winning streak come to an end. However, since the season-opening Willard Tri-State Classic, when the Tigers started 0-3, they have lost only twice -- both times to LCHS.

Labette's 6' 4" senior post Kendra Frazier had another outstanding night, scoring 29 points while hauling down 24 rebounds -- 10 in the third quarter alone. But as was the case in the Tigers' overtime loss at home on Dec. 7, while she was a major factor, she wasn't the entire reason for the Grizzlies' victory.

The Tigers even held the lead -- its only one of the night as it turned out -- after Afton Gray hit a three-pointer to make it 11-8 with 4:01 remaining in the first quarter.

It appeared as if the Tigers' press was going to create so many opportunities -- Fort Scott took 63 shots from the field while LCHS took just 49 -- that Fort Scott would be able to get the win just simply because they'd shoot the Grizzlies out of their own gym, except that the shots didn't fall.

Fort Scott was five of 28 in the first half and made only 11 of 63 shots in the game. The Tigers were also four-of-27 from three-point range.

After Gray's triple, Labette County went on a 10-0 run to close out the first quarter with an 18-11 lead.

The Tigers were able to stay within shouting distance for a while as Gray hit another three to bring Fort Scott within 21-18 with 4:42 left in the second quarter. But, just like the last time she struck, LCHS answered with another run. This was a 9-2 stretch capped by a transition layup from Madie O'Connell with 28 seconds left. Another Gray three-pointer closed the margin to 30-23 at the half.

The Tigers still weren't out of it, down just 36-29 after Kori Page Rienbolt took a steal in for a layup with 3:29 left in the third. The defense was continuing to create turnovers and had held the Grizzlies to just two-of-12 shooting in the quarter.

But in the last 2 1/2 minutes, Frazier and Tiffany Farrow broke the game open as each scored five points in a 10-0 run to close the period out and make it a 46-29 game.

The Tigers didn't surrender and finally got their offense going, if only for a short while, making three of their first five fielders of the fourth as they got within 46-38 with 5:28 remaining.

But Labette scored the next 10 points while holding Fort Scott without a field goal until the final 20 seconds of the game (one for 14).

Frazier made nine of 26 shots from the field and 11 of 12 from the free-throw line. She scored 73 points and had 49 rebounds in the two games against Fort Scott this season. Meanwhile, Farrow hit both of LC's three-point shots as she added 10 points. The Grizzlies shot 41 percent from the field on 20 of 49.

Gray led the Tigers with 13 points while Rienbolt finished with 12 and Joce Allen and Jolee Sharp each had 10.

LCHS outrebounded Fort Scott 50-36. Sharp had nine rebounds for the Tigers while Hannah Hawkins had eight.

The Tigers will host Independence Friday night in SEK play. The Bulldogs (5-5, 7-7) beat third-place Iola Tuesday night, 36-34, breaking an 11-game losing streak to the Fillies.

JUNIOR VARSITY -- Fort Scott High School's girls junior varsity team lost to Labette County, 50-45, Tuesday night. Breianna Jones led the Tigers with 17 points while Courtney Carpenter added seven.

The Tiger JV plays Independence at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the FSHS gymnasium.

FORT SCOTT: Gray 5-20 0-1 13, J.Allen 3-10 3-6 10, Sharp 1-10 8-9 10, Rienbolt 2-15 8-8 12, Hawkins 0-4 0-0 0, Bingesser 0-1 0-0 0, Dikeman 0-1 0-0 0, R.Allen 0-2 2-2 2, Meech 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11-63 21-26 47.

LABETTE COUNTY: Farrow 4-7 0-0 10, O'Connell 2-8 2-2 6, Graham 1-2 0-2 2, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Frazier 9-16 11-12 29, Britton 1-10 1-3 3, Penner 3-4 1-4 7, Burris 0-0 0-0 0, Omarkhail 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20-49 15-23 57.

Fort Scott............... 11 12 6 18 -- 47

Labette County....... 18 12 16 11 -- 57

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 4-27 (Gray 3-12, J.Allen 1-5, Bingesser 0-1, Dikeman 0-1, Sharp 0-3, Rienbolt 0-5), Labette County 2-9 (Farrow 2-4, Smith 0-1, Britton 0-1, O'Connell 0-3).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 18, Labette County 23. Fouled out: Hawkins, Graham, Penner. Technical fouls: none.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 36 (Sharp 9), Labette County 50 (Frazier 24). Assists: Fort Scott 6 (J.Allen 2, Sharp 2), Labette County 12 (Graham 4). Turnovers: Fort Scott 11, Labette County 23. Steals: Fort Scott 11 (J.Allen 4), Labette County 5 (Frazier 3). Blocked shots: Fort Scott none, Labette County 2 (O'Connell, Frazier).