Tiger girls beat Chanute, clinch title when LC falls

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

CHANUTE -- A victory over Chanute here Tuesday night guaranteed Fort Scott High's girls no worse than a share of the Southeast Kansas League title. The Tigers -- who now appear in the No. 10 spot in Class 4A in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll -- gave themselves that much when they defeated Chanute, 57-44.

Fort Scott's biggest rival, Pittsburg, gave the Tigers the championship all to themselves when the Purple Dragons nipped second-place Labette County, 48-46.

The Tigers, who made their season debut in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Poll at No. 10 in Class 4A, also assured themselves of home-court advantage in the first round of their own Sub-State next week. Fort Scott will play Baxter Springs or Pittsburg Tuesday night, the opponent to be determined by a coin toss since those teams did not meet this season.

This was also win No. 106 for head coach Jeff Armstrong, who passed Bob Beckham to become the program's winningest coach.

Katren Rienbolt had a season-high 20 points for the Tigers (10-1 SEK, 14-5 overall), who have won 10 straight and 14 of their last 15. Ashley Cook added 13 and Brianne Lawrence chipped in with 11.

The game dragged on as the officials called 49 fouls between the teams that resulted in 82 free-throw attempts. Fort Scott made 14 more than Chanute (29 to 15), which held up as the main difference in the game.

The Blue Comets (8-4, 15-5) trailed 11-2 three minutes into the game and were down 43-29 early in the fourth quarter. They got back within 49-40 with 1:45 remaining but the Tigers pulled away at the free-throw line -- where else?

Shelby Trout led Chanute with 20 points, scoring her team's first 7 of the fourth.

Fort Scott hosts Pittsburg (7-4, 13-6) Thursday night in the final regular-season game for both teams. It will be the only league game held that night.


FORT SCOTT: Tourtillott 1 2-2 4, Allen 0 0-0 0, Sh.Maycumber 0 0-0 0, Rienbolt 4 12-16 20, Hasenplaugh 0 0-0 0, Cook 2 7-9 13, Si.Maycumber 3 3-6 9, Lawrence 3 5-11 11, Lattimer 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-32 29-54 57.

CHANUTE: Martin 0 1-2 1, Bagshaw 1 6-14 8, Batten 0 0-0 0, Trout 7 4-8 20, Olson 1 1-2 3, Richard 1 0-0 3, Rubow 1 2-2 4, Flowers 2 1-2 5, Rollins 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-40 15-28 44.

Fort Scott.......... 14 13 14 16 -- 57

Chanute............. 5 15 9 15 -- 44

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 2-6 (Cook 2), Chanute 3-13 (Trout 2, Richard).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 21, Chanute 28. Fouled out: Tourtillott, Bagshaw, Batten, Trout. Technical foul: Chanute bench.