Fort Scott girls pick up second victory, 59-44

PARSONS -- Fort Scott High's girls picked up their second victory of the season here Tuesday night, downing Parsons, 59-44, in Southeast Kansas League action at Harold C. Johnson Gymnasium.

Following an 0-4 start, the Tigers are now 2-1 in the SEK and 2-4 overall. Parsons fell to 0-4, 0-6, its last victory coming in last season's Sub-State semifinal.

The only time Fort Scott trailed was 1-0. Parsons tied it twice, once at 5-5 and again at 9-9, during the first quarter.

Maddi Allen's took a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for a layup with just under two minutes remaining in the period to make it 11-9 and Brianne Lawrence's stickback of a teammate's miss gave the Tigers a 4-point lead going into the second quarter.

Ashley Cook sparked a 10-2 half-ending run by hitting a 3-point field goal with 1:33 remaining. Allen followed with back-to-back layups and Jillian Lattimer made 1 of 2 free throws. After Parsons' Syvauna Hinman-Mitchell made a pair of free throws, Katren Rienbolt drew a foul on a 3-point shot and made 2 of her 3 free throws with no time on the clock to make it a 27-15 lead.

Hinman-Mitchell scored the first basket of the half. Sidney Maycumber scored and Rienbolt hit back-to-back tripled to push the margin to 35-17.

Parsons got back within 41-30 late in the third only to see the Tigers close out the quarter with 4 points and open the second with 4 more.

Maycumber took an assist from Elisha Hasenplaugh, who was making her first varsity appearance, to give Fort Scott its biggest lead, 57-37, with around three minutes to go.

Rienbolt led Fort Scott with 16 points while Maycumber finished with 11. Allen added 8 for the Tigers, who scored a season high point total.

Shay Kelly led Parsons with 16 points despite going just 3 of 13 at the free-throw line. Logan Shelton added 10 points for the Vikings.

The Tigers will be off until January 4 when they play a league game at Independence. The Bulldogs lost to Labette County, 45-39, Tuesday night to fall to 1-3 in the SEK and 2-5 overall.

NOTES -- Kelly's performance at the free-throw line was a reflection of how well that process went in the game. Combined, the teams were 10 of 31 in the first half and 23 of 52 overall. Parsons was 4 for 15 in the first half by itself....

This was the Tigers' highest point total since beating Coffeyville, 70-25, on Jan. 26, 2010. They've won 10 of 13 games since then in which they've scored 50 points or more....

FORT SCOTT: Tourtillott 0 2-3 2, Shoemaker 0 0-2 0, Allen 4 0-0 8, Sh.Maycumber 1 0-2 2, Rienbolt 6 2-3 16, Cook 2 0-0 6, Si.Maycumber 5 1-2 11, Barbour 0 0-0 0, Lawrence 2 3-6 7, Lattimer 2 1-4 5, Hasenplaugh 0 2-2 2. TOTALS: 22-50 11-24 59.

PARSONS: Kendrick 0 0-0 0, S.Kelly 6 3-12 16, K.Kelly 3 3-3 9, Hinman-Mitchell 1 4-7 6, Hizey 0 0-0 0, Stewart 1 1-2 3, Shelton 4 1-3 10, Pierce 0 0-1 0, Leech 0 0-0 0, Perez 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15-46 12-28 44.

Parsons.............. 9 6 15 14 -- 44

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 4-10 (Rienbolt 2, Cook 2), Parsons 2-3 (S.Kelly, Shelton).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 24, Parsons 20. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.