Bearcats finally dial in victory against Jackson

~ The Bearcats quickly spread the news of their rare victory over Jackson.

DEXTER, Mo. -- After Dexter upset Jackson 55-44 on Monday night, Bearcats senior Natalie Hayes and her teammates had a phone call to make.

"We called Rachel Blunt from last year, and we yelled in her voice mail, saying 'We beat Jackson finally' for her," Hayes said, referring to the Southeast Missouri State basketball player who left as Dexter's all-time leading scorer.

"It's just, I don't know -- we're all speechless," Hayes added. "We've been waiting for this day for a long time. It was one of our goals this year, and we got it."

The Bearcats got it in dominating fashion.

Dexter never trailed against Class 5's seventh-ranked team, shooting 50 percent from the field and using a 2-3 zone defense to neutralize the Indians' inside game.

"You've got to give them credit -- they outplayed us," Jackson coach Sam Sides said. "I thought they outplayed us all over the floor. They outhustled us, outshot us, we fouled and they made their free throws. We didn't guard them.

"But, they just outplayed us. They were ready to play and we weren't, the bottom line is, I thought. You've got to give them credit. They deserved that win. We didn't deserve to be on the court with them, to tell you the truth."

Dexter (14-3) moved into a first-place tie with Jackson and Notre Dame in the SEMO Conference, improving to 4-1 in the league.

Jackson was paced by 21 points from Kylie Werner, while Amanda Peiffer finished with 10.

The Indians fell to 13-3 with their second straight loss and third loss in four outings -- but the previous losses had come against St. Louis-area teams, including top-ranked Incarnate Word.

"Biggest win of my career, outside of winning the district championship last year," Dexter coach Gavin Miller said. "Jackson, they're ranked in Class 5. They played Incarnate Word to a decent game the other night. This is, in my mind, probably my second-biggest win as a coach.

"For these girls, this might be bigger than winning that district last year. I don't know, because they've separated it as, 'That was last year. This is this year. This is exciting, this is fun.'"