Lady Tigers get balance in final game before Sub-State

Fort Scott's Jenna Harper dribbles upcourt during the second half of play Thursday night at the FSHS gymnasium. Harper scored 6 points and picked up 3 steals for the Tigers in a 49-27 victory over visiting Coffeyville.
(Captured Images/Kenny Felt)

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Missing a starter, point guard Courtney Carpenter, who was attending a music festival, head coach Jeff Armstrong placed Kori Allen into the starting lineup. But the main idea regardless of who was on the floor was for the Tigers (13-3 SEK, 14-6 overall) to get themselves into position to use a lot of players in preparation for Monday night's home Sub-State game against Paola.

"We're going for the win but if we had an opportunity, we wanted to try to get others involved," Armstrong said. "Tonight wasn't typical Fort Scott, but it was great to see the other girls step up. Jo (Jolee Sharp) was part of that playing other roles, distributing the ball and her senior leadership role tonight."

Armstrong may have realized that the stat geeks in the audience are going to see the box score and notice Sharp only had 8 points -- though she did become the first Tiger girl to score 400 points in a single season. However, 12 players got into the game and each of the nine who played the majority of minutes scored. Megan McDermed led with 10 points and four others, including Sharp, scored at least 6 points.

Fort Scott rolled out to an 8-0 lead in the game's first 2 1/2 minutes as they made 4 of their first 6 shots from the field.

The Golden Tornado (0-16, 0-19) scored only one field goal and one free throw in the period and found itself trailing 16-4 after one quarter.

Jenna Harper made consecutive baskets midway through the second to boost Fort Scott's lead to 23-8 with 4:18 to go in the half.

Jenna Campbell, McDermed and Sharp score the last 3 baskets of the half to boost the lead to 31-13 at intermission.

The score was 43-18 after three quarters. Six different players scored for the Tigers in the period.

Fort Scott entered the game with a hope of tying for the league title with Labette County. But when LCHS defeated Parsons, 56-30, Thursday night, the Grizzlies clinched first place in the SEK with a 14-2 record (16-4 overall). But the Tigers' victory assured them of second place all to themselves. A loss would have forced them to share second with Independence (12-4, 14-6), which beat Chanute, 44-38.

"I'm really proud of the girls and where they ended up," Armstrong said. "Thirteen-and-three is amazing in a league like this. Labette earned it. I was pleased with how our girls performed this year. I think they exceeded a lot of expectations."

Fort Scott shot 51 percent from the floor, making 23 of 45 field-goal attempts, while holding Coffeyville to 24 percent on 10 of 41. However, the Tigers made just 3 of 11 free-throw attempts.

The Tigers also outrebouned Coffeyville 35-28. McDermed had 8 boards for Fort Scott.

FSHS will prepare for a first-round game against Paola Monday night as post-season play in the Osawatomie Class 4A Sub-State begins. The Tigers will face the Panthers at 6 p.m. in the FSHS gymnasium,

"We'll be able to see them tonight," Armstrong said (Paola plays Gardner-Edgerton tonight). "They play really hard; play eight, nine girls. They all contribute. We're going to have to be ready to play. This isn't a typical 2 (seed versus) 7 game. It's going to be a battle. And that's fine; it's what we need."

JUNIOR VARSITY -- The Tiger JV blasted Coffeyville, 45-6. Morgan Tourtillott scored 10 points for Fort Scott, which led 26-2 at halftime.

NOTES -- Coffeyville's last victory came on February 20 of last year when the Golden Tornado beat Parsons 52-44....

COFFEYVILLE: Lawson 2-3 1-5 5, Kritz 3-10 0-0 7, Nash 0-2 0-0 0, Davis 3-8 0-2 6, Stout 0-1 0-0 0, Bauer 0-0 0-0 0, Lemos 0-0 0-0 0, Roberts 0-4 3-4 3, Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Greer 0-1 0-0 0, Cox 2-9 1-2 6, Johnson 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS: 10-41 5-13 27.

FORT SCOTT: Sharp 4-8 0-0 8, Kr.Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Therwhanger 2-5 0-0 4, Tourtillott 0-1 1-2 1, Shelton 4-5 0-2 8, Harper 3-6 0-0 6, Ko.Allen 3-7 0-1 6, McDermed 4-8 2-6 10, Matkin 0-0 0-0 0, Campbell 2-4 0-0 4, Karleskint 1-1 0-0 2, Martin 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12 11-16 37.

Three-point field goals: Coffeyville 2-10 (Cox 1-1, Kritz 1-4, Nash 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Davis 0-3), Fort Scott 0-3 (Sharp 0-1, Harper 0-1, McDermed 0-1).

Total fouls: Coffeyville 15, Fort Scott 12. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.

Rebounds: Coffeyville 28 (Cox 8), Fort Scott 35 (McDermed 8). Assists: Coffeyville 2 (Kritz, Cox), Fort Scott 12 (Sharp 3). Turnovers: Coffeyville 17, Fort Scott 13. Steals: Coffeyville 8 (Lawson 3, Kritz 3), Fort Scott 9 (Harper 3). Blocked shots: Coffeyville none, Fort Scott 1 (Sharp).