Tiger girls one step closer to SEK title

Fort Scott's Sidney Maycumber (31) goes up for a shot over Independence's Abbi Groff (22) and Kylie Ewing during play at the FSHS gymnasium Friday night. Maycumber scored 12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the Tigers' 49-36 victory. (Kenny Felt/Exclusive to the Tribune)

Fort Scott High School's girls took another step in their journey to a Southeast Kansas League championship by beating Independence in league play, 49-36, Friday night at the FSHS gymnasium.

The Tigers (9-1 SEK, 13-5 overall), winners of nine straight games and 13 of their last 14, are one ahead of Labette County (9-2, 12-6) in the loss column. Chanute (8-3, 15-4) is in third place. LCHS defeated Parsons, 66-27, Friday night while Chanute was idle.

Fort Scott and Chanute will meet Tuesday night at Chanute. A Tiger win gives them the opportunity to win the title outright with a victory at home against Pittsburg Thursday night. Labette County will play at Pittsburg Tuesday needing a win to keep a chance to at least tie with Fort Scott alive. Chanute will be eliminated if it loses or Labette County wins.

This was the 104th win for head coach Jeff Armstrong. One more win will put him in a tie with Bob Beckham as the school's winningest girls' coach.

Indy (4-7, 9-10) tried to put a scare into the reclads by going to the 3-point line, hitting their first two shots of the game to go up 6-0 early. The Tigers stuck to their plan and responded with 8 straight, taking the lead on Ashley Cook's 3-point shot.

Indy hit two more triples in the second quarter but that was all it could muster as the Tigers shut everything else down. A 6-point run near the end of the half saw the lead increase to 24-17.

Both teams scored 7 points in the third quarter. Fort Scott scored 9 of the first 13 of the fourth to take it to 40-28.

Sidney Maycumber led the Tigers with 12 points and 8 rebounds as she made 5 of 8 shots from the field. Cook and Brianne Lawrence each added 11 points. Anna Hignight led the Bulldogs with 9 points.

Fort Scott shot 54 percent from the field, making 15 of 28 field-goal attempts. Indy made only 39 percent of its shots on 13 of 33.

Rebounds were even at 21-21. Maddi Allen dealt 6 of the Tigers' 12 assists. She also led in steals with 2.

INDEPENDENCE: Welch 1-2 1-2 4, McGrath 0-2 3-4 3, Ewing 1-4 0-0 2, Hignight 3-7 2-2 9, Marquez 0-2 0-0 0, Groff 3-6 0-0 8, Reynolds 0-0 0-0 0, Yakshaw 2-6 0-0 4, Cox 3-4 0-1 6. TOTALS: 13-33 6-9 36.

FORT SCOTT: Tourtillott 0-1 2-2 2, Allen 1-2 1-2 3, Sh.Maycumber 0-0 0-0 0, Rienbolt 1-5 4-4 6, Hasenplaugh 0-0 0-0 0, Cook 3-6 2-2 11, Si.Maycumber 5-8 2-5 12, Lawrence 2-2 5-7 11, Lattimer 2-3 0-0 4. TOTALS: 15-28 16-22 40.

Fort Scott........... 15 9 7 18 -- 49

Three-point field goals: Independence 4-14 (Groff 2-5, Welch 1-1, Hignight 1-4, McGrath 0-1, Marquez 0-1, Yakshaw 0-2), Fort Scott 3-10 (Cook 3-6, Tourtillott 0-1, Rienbolt 0-3).

Total fouls: Independence 16, Fort Scott 15. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.

Rebounds: Independence 21 (Ewing 5), Fort Scott 21 (Si.Maycumber 8). Assists: Independence 7 (Hignight 4), Fort Scott 12 (Allen 6). Turnovers: Independence 17, Fort Scott 16. Steals: Independence 6 (Hignight 2, Yakshaw 2). Blocked shots: Independence 1 (Hignight), Fort Scott 1 (Lattimer).