Tiger girls down Hogan Prep

FRONTENAC -- Saturday afternoon was the first day of a new season, according to Fort Scott High head girls' basketball coach Pechone Stepps. And that new season started off with a 56-47 victory over Kansas City (Mo.)-Hogan Prep in the seventh-place game of the Frontenac Kansas Army National Guard Invitational.

"I told the girls, 'We can't control what happened in the first half. (W)e need to start a new run here,'" Stepps said. "So as far as they know, we're 1-0."

The Tigers (2-9) started the game with a 7-3 lead but trailed 16-12 at the end of the first quarter and and by 7 points after Gabrielle Jones-Hall hit a 3-point shot to start the second quarter.

The Tigers rallied a bit before halftime with Ashley Cook and Madison Cook scoring layups before the half to get Fort Scott within 23-20. Then the second half started with a 10-1 run with four players scoring to make it 30-24 with 5:06 remaining in the third period.

Hogan (4-10) rallied to take a one-point lead at 35-34 with 1:47 left. But Karlee Stanley hit two free throws and then Courtney Rooks hit a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to put the Tigers up 39-35. Although Hogan's Brianna Erving scored just before the buzzer, Fort Scott never trailed again.

"We could have easily folded," Stepps said. "But they dig deep and got some things done. They responded to some adversity and came away with the W."

While the fourth-quarter saw the teams nearly match each other at the free-throw line, the Tigers made 5 of 9 field-goal tries while holding the Rams to 2 of 6.

A.Cook and Elisha Hasenplaugh each scored 11 points for Fort Scott, which made 21 of 41 field-goal attempts. Jones-Hall led Hogan with 19 points.

Fort Scott faces Coffeyville in its Homecoming game Friday night at 7:30.

NOTES -- Taylor Roberts of Oklahoma City-Classen was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player even though her team finished in fourth place, losing Friday to Webb City in the semifinals and Saturday to Blue Valley Southwest, 59-57, in the fourth-place game. Roberts, who scored 51 points in a first-round victory over Fort Scott Thursday night, Webb City's Desirea Buerge, Southwest's Rilynne Like, and Springfield-Kickapoo's Laura Vierkant and Jordan Sanders were named to the All-Tournament team....

Kickapoo defeated Webb City, 59-49, in Saturday's championship game as Vierkant scored 19 points. She made 13 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter...

Frontenac defeated Prairie View in the fifth-place game, 51-21....

Fort Scott's Aubree Altic finished in a three-way tie in the hot-shot competition as she, Buerge and Frontenac's Tabor Spurling each scored 16 points in 45 seconds. She went last in the shoot off after Buerge scored 11 points and Spurling 18. She realized that 45 seconds was plenty of time to shoot enough 1-point layups to win the competition with 20 points....

(8) FORT SCOTT: Rooks 1-1 0-0 3, B.Brown 4-5 1-2 9, S.Brown 1-1 0-2 2, Westhoff 0-1 1-2 1, Stanley 2-8 2-2 6, Hale 4-5 0-0 8, Hasenplaugh 3-6 5-7 11, A.Cook 4-8 2-2 11, Bailey 0-2 0-0 0, M.Cook 2-4 1-3 5. TOTALS: 21-41 12-20 56.

(7) KANSAS CITY, Mo.-HOGAN PREP: Anthony 1-4 0-2 2, Coppage 1-1 1-1 3, Jones-Hall 7-13 3-6 19, Cook 0-0 0-1 0, Ervin 5-14 3-4 15, Dantzler 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Herriford 1-8 6-11 8. TOTALS: 15-40 13-25 47.

Hogan Prep............. 16 7 14 10 -- 47

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 2-3 (Rooks 1-1, A.Cook 1-2), Hogan Prep 4-17 (Jones-Hall 2-5, Ervin 2-9, Anthony 0-1, Herriford 0-2).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 20, Hogan Prep 15. Fouled out: Jones-Hall.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 33 (B.Brown 5, Hasenplaugh 5), Hogan Prep 24 (Cook 7). Assists: Fort Scott 9 (Stanley 3), Hogan Prep 2 (Cook). Turnovers: Fort Scott 21, Hogan Prep 16. Steals: Fort Scott 8 (4 with 2 each), Hogan Prep 12 (Jones-Hall 5). Blocked shots: Fort Scott none, Hogan Prep 1 (Anthony).