Tiger girls hold off Columbus charge

COLUMBUS -- On paper, this game was a rout waiting to happen when Southeast Kansas League-leading Fort Scott High's girls visited seventh-place Columbus here Tuesday night.

But league coaches will tell you that there is no such thing as a night off in the SEK and Columbus bore out that theory as the Tigers had to hold off a fourth-quarter Titan rally before prevaling, 40-31.

Fort Scott (12-0 SEK, 13-3 overall) won the game where they've been winning all of them recently -- at the free-throw line. The Tigers hit nine of 12 in the final 2:15 after Columbus (2-9, 3-12) had fought its way to within 32-30 with 3:35 to go.

But Fort Scott's free-throw form betrayed the Tigers for most of the game. For the first 37:26 of game play, they were just seven of 20. Meanwhile, the Titans caught up partly because they were doing better at the charity stripe as they had made 12 of 14 through 35 minutes.

But in the last 3 1/2 minutes, after Danielle Crain's field goal brought Columbus within two points, the Titans turned the ball over six times and missed their last four charity tossses.

The Tigers scored the game's first nine points -- four of them from Brittany Bingesser -- and it didn't seem as if there would be much trouble. Seven straight points from Jolee Sharp boosted the margin to 16-4 with about four minutes left in the second. It was a 22-10 game at halftime.

Fort Scott eventually got the margin up to 12 points after Megan McDermed took a pass from Jamie Collins in for a layup with 2:52 left in the third. But Columbus scored the next 10 points -- eight of those a the free-throw line -- to get within 30-28 with 5:44 to go in the fourth.

Sharp finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds for the Tigers. Paige Fletcher led Columbus with six points.

Fort Scott outrebounded Columbus, 35-22. The teams combined to commit 59 turnovers and were called for a total of 45 fouls.

Fort Scott hosts Chanute for Homecoming Friday night.

FORT SCOTT: Sharp 6 6-8 19, Therwhanger 0 0-2 0, Carpenter 0 1-2 1, Rienbolt 1 1-8 3, Bingesser 2 2-2 6, Collins 0 3-4 3, Dikeman 2 2-4 6, McDermed 1 1-2 3, Coffman 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12-29 16-32 41.

COLUMBUS: Stover 0 0-2 0, Hatfield 2 0-0 5, Crain 1 3-4 5, Stanley 1 2-2 4, Wells 1 1-2 4, Fletcher 1 4-6 6, Anderson 0 0-0 0, Koons 1 0-0 2, Roberts 1 2-2 4. TOTALS: 8-34 12-18 30.

Columbus................ 2 8 10 10 -- 30

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 1-2 (Sharp), Columbus 2-13 (Hatfield, Wells).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 15, Columbus 30. Fouled out: Crain, Wells, Koons.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 35 (Sharp 14), Colmbus 22. Assists: n/a. Turnovers: Fort Scott 32, Columbus 27. Steals: Fort Scott 11 (Sharp 5), Columbus 13. Blocked shots: n/a.