Tigers roll to easy win

Fort Scott's Jolee Sharp (4) draws a foul from Pittsburg's McKenzie Spresser (10) while going in for a layup during the fourth quarter of play Thursday night at the FSHS gymnasium. Sharp made the basket and the ensuing free throw as part of a 21-point effort in a 54-30 victory. (Kenny Felt/Captured Images) [Click to enlarge]

On the first of back-to-back nights, Fort Scott High's girls rolled over rival Pittsburg, 54-30, in Southeast Kansas League play at the FSHS gymnasium Thursday night.

This was a make-up as the game was snowed out last Friday.

The Tigers (7-3 SEK, 8-6 overall) broke a 5-game winning streak on Pittsburg's part, the longest streak the Purple Dragons have had in five years. Fort Scott, meanwhile, bounced back from a tough loss Tuesday night at SEK leader Labette County.

Defense was the focus as head coach Jeff Armstrong wanted to keep the Dragons from hitting 3-pointers and keep Kristina Willis under wraps.

Pittsburg (5-5, 7-7) made just 1 of 8 3-point attempts. And Willis didn't score in the first quarter and scored 4 of her 14 points against the junior varsity players late in the fourth quarter. Though she was 6 of 10 from the field, Willis attempted just 4 shots in the first half. Pittsburg as a team made just 2 field goals in the first half on 13 shots.

"We put Sammi (Therwhanger) on Willis, who is a great player, and she did a great job," Armstrong said. "Our girls did a great job, defensively, of focusing on the game plan and executing that well."

The Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead. But Hannah Wolgamott single-handedly brought Pittsburg to within one before Fort Scott scored 8 straight to end the period with a 13-4 lead.

The Tigers didn't make any field goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter. But they didn't have to. They made a few free throws while holding Pittsburg to just two points early. Courtney Carpenter finally got Fort Scott's first field goal of the period right at the three-minute mark to make it a 20-6 lead.

The Dragons only scored two free throws the rest of the half. Meanwhile, Kori Allen scored four of her personal-best 8 points and helped boost the lead to 24-8 at the half.

The Tigers built that lead even though leading scorer Jolee Sharp had to sit out most of the half in foul trouble

"I mentioned to them at halftime that they were up 16 at halftime and Jolee's only played about a quarter of the game," Armstrong said. "So even when our best player wasn't out there, they were performing and that was good to see."

Sharp scored 6 straight before drawing her fourth foul early in the third to make it a 32-10 lead with 5:09 left. Willis also began to finally get some scores as Therwhanger drew her third foul and Armstrong didn't want to risk her getting her fourth.

But Carpenter boosted the Tigers late in the period. She scored 5 in a row for Fort Scott to make it 38-18. It was 40-23 after three.

Sharp scored the first 8 points of the fourth quarter, converting two 3-point plays, to make it 48-23 with 5 1/2 minutes left. She finished with a game-high 21 points.

The Tigers shot 50 percent from the field, making 19 of 38 field-goal attempts, while holding the Dragons to 32 percent on 11 of 34.

Fort Scott hosts Independence tonight at 6 p.m. The second-place Bulldogs (7-2, 9-4) defeated the Tigers, 33-24 on Dec. 15.

JUNIOR VARSITY -- Fort Scott held on for a 35-33 victory in the junior varsity contest. Pittsburg trailed 29-15 after three periods but had a chance to force overtime had it made a pair of free throws in the final seconds.

Kori Allen led the Tigers with 12 points. Morgan Tourillott added 9.

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(NOTE: The box score contained an error in the print edition. It has been corrected here.)

PITTSBURG: K.Willis 6-10 2-2 14, Spresser 1-5 1-2 4, Powers 0-1 0-0 0, McGuire 0-0 0-0 0, Sheppard 0-1 1-2 1, Farnsworth 0-0 0-0 0, Wolgamott 3-7 2-5 8, Perez-Diez 0-1 0-0 0, Forest 1-2 0-0 2, Casper 0-7 1-2 1, Woods 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 11-34 7-13 30.

FORT SCOTT: Sharp 8-11 4-6 21, Therwhanger 0-1 1-4 1, Carpenter 3-4 2-2 9, Tourtillott 0-0 0-0 0, Shelton 1-3 0-0 2, Harper 1-6 0-0 2, Allen 3-3 2-4 8, McDermed 2-7 5-8 9, Campbell 0-1 0-0 0, Karleskint 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 19-38 14-24 54.

Three-point field goals: Pittsburg 1-8 (Spresser 1-4, K.Willis 0-1, Casper 0-3), Fort Scott 2-3 (Sharp 1-1, Carpenter 1-1, McDermed 0-1).

Total fouls: Pittsburg 20, Fort Scott 15. Fouled out: McGuire. Technical fouls: None.

Rebounds: Pittsburg 25 (Spresser 6), Fort Scott 29 (Shelton 5). Assists: Pittsburg 4 (Casper 2), Fort Scott 7 (McDermed 3). Turnovers: Pittsburg 23, Fort Scott 18. Steals: Pittsburg 13 (K.Willis 3, Spresser 3), Fort Scott 15 (Sharp 3, Carpenter 3). Blocked shots: None.