Jackson avenges loss for return to state semifinals

FLORISSANT, Mo. -- The Jackson Indians have found a home away from home on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Jackson's girls basketball team made it a perfect 7-for-7 at Mark Twain Gymnasium Saturday afternoon with a 41-37 victory over Nerinx Hall in a Class 5 quarterfinal game.

In a game that neither team led by more than four points, Jackson found a way to pull away in the closing moments to gain their seventh trip to the final four.

Jackson (21-8) scored five unanswered points in the final 46 seconds of the game to turn a 37-36 deficit into victory.

"It's been a dream of mine to win state and a goal to be back," said senior Jenna Leet, who scored a team-high 14 points. "We've worked so hard and been through so many obstacles with injuries and people quitting. The team just really pulled together toward the end and really pulled together. We wanted this so bad. This is what we worked so hard for."

The win avenged a 12-point loss, one of three consecutive defeats Jackson suffered in January.

"We were on the skids for a while, but I have to give credit to the team, they came together," Jackson coach Ron Cook said. "They became more of a unit after that experience, and we started getting the chemistry together."

Jackson will return to the final four after being stopped short a year ago. Leet and fellow senior Whitney Werner, who had 10 points, both started for the 2001 team that went to Columbia and finished third.

"That experience is somewhat of a factor," Nerinx Hall coach Mike Slater said. "We felt like we had a little edge -- a little edge -- because we went down to their place and had a good game. We just felt like we're at home, we're in our town, so just play smart and we can pull it out."

It was the Indians who played smartest down the stretch, getting the ball in the hands of their top free-throw shooters -- Ashley Bartels and Leet.

"The girls got to know who to go to at the end there," Cook said. "And they do. They know we have to get our free throw shooters to the line."

Leet, second-team all-state as a junior, scored four of Jackson's final five points.

With Jackson trailing 37-36, Leet hit the game-winning basket on a baseline drive with :46 left in regulation. Leet drove against the Markers' 6-foot-3 Bridget Bailey, used a cross-over dribble and a hesitation move and drew the foul as the ball fell through. It was only the ninth field goal of the game for Jackson, which shot only 27 percent from the field.

Nerinx Hall (19-11) turned the ball over on its next possession and, after Jackson missed the front end of a one-and-one, saw the Markers' Erica Pfeiffer misfire on a 10-footer.

Bartels, an 80-percent free-throw shooter, then hit the front end of a one-and-one with 11 seconds left for a 39-37 lead.

Bartels missed the second attempt, but Nerinx Hall traveled with the ball in its haste to get downcourt. The Markers then fouled Leet, who was just 4 of 8 at that point.

"Even though I wasn't hitting, I just wanted it," Leet said. "I've practiced so many, and I wanted it to be me. I wanted to be put on the line. I was ready."

Leet clinched the trip to Columbia by hitting both attempts with :06 left.

"This is our goal," Werner said. "We set this when we started the season, and now we finally got there."

Jackson trailed just 20-19 at halftime despite hitting on just three field goals on 19 attempts (16 percent). The Markers shot 45 percent from the field, but the Indians stayed close by hitting 11 of 13 free throws (84 percent).

The three field goals were three more than the Indians scored in the first half of a 55-42 loss to Nerinx Hall in late January.

"The shots weren't falling the first half, but we knew we had to keep shooting and the law of averages would work out," Bartels said. "Eventually they'd go in if we kept shooting and got our confidence up."

The Indians shot 43 percent in the second half, hitting on six of 14 attempts.

Werner put Jackson ahead, 21-20, just nine seconds into the second half, and the Indians held a 29-28 lead going into the fourth quarter.

With the game tied 31-31 for nearly three minutes, junior Linden Hahs broke the deadlock when she bounced in a 3-point basket with 3:14 left.

Bailey, who scored a game-high 15 points, scored baseline jumpers on consecutive trips down the court for a 35-34 Nerinx lead at the 2:14 mark. Bartels put Jackson ahead 36-35 on a pair of free throws with 1:11 left before Pfeifer hit two free throws to give Nerinx its final lead with 1:09 left.

jbreer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 124