JACKSON DEFEATS CHS FOR 3RD TIME

In a girls basketball battle between Cape Girardeau county rivals Thursday night at the Tiger Fieldhouse, the start was a bit of a surprise, but the final result wasn't.

Despite scoring the first seven points against state-ranked Jackson, Cape Girardeau Central's Lady Tigers allowed the Lady Indians a 13-2 scoring run to end the quarter. Jackson, ranked second in Class 4A and the top-ranked girls team in Southeast Missouri, never trailed again on the way to a 54-46 SEMO Conference victory.

The victory clinched the conference championship for Jackson as the Lady Indians completed their league schedule undefeated at 5-0. Overall the Lady Indians stand at 19-2, including three wins over the Lady Tigers.

Central dropped to 15-7 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

"If you want to beat Jackson you have to execute for four quarters and we're just not getting that done," said Central coach Paula Watkins. "We need to do a better job of staying in the basketball game all the way through and quit having mental lapses that allows them to get up 10 or 12 points."

Central's full-court pressure defense affected Jackson at the start of the game. The Lady Tigers got a 3-pointer from Kim Aslinger, a basket from Amy Harris and layup from freshman Katie Dougherty less than three minutes into the contest.

"We went to an aggressive press to start with, got the 7-0 lead and you would think that we would be convinced we could play with them," Watkins said. "But instead we just kind of froze up as if they were ahead 7-0."

Jackson wasn't ahead, but it didn't take long. A 3-pointer by Dana Eakins tied the score 7-7 with 2:55 left and then Eakins ended the quarter with 3-pointer to put the Lady Indians ahead for good 13-9.

"I thought about calling time out (after getting behind), but then we got our composure and started to score," said Jackson coach Ron Cook. "We made some mental mistakes on defense early. We tried something different, but it didn't work out right."

Things worked pretty smoothly for Eakins in the first half as she made all four of her 3-point attempts before halftime, ending with 12 points. Christa Millham led Jackson with 16 points and Melissa Palmer worked the inside to score 12.

Central got a game-high 17 points from Harris and 16 from Dougherty.

"Cape has good chemistry," Cook said. "They play hard and were never out of the game. Cape has a good team."

The Lady Tigers tied the game 17-17 in the second quarter on a jumper by Harris, but Eakins closed the first half with her final two 3-pointers to help stake Jackson to a 29-21 lead.

Jackson never allowed Central any closer than six points in the second half.

For Watkins, this game was similar to the two previous games with Jackson which Central lost by scores of 59-48 in the first meeting and last week's 58-52 decision.

"We dig ourselves into a hole by not playing good defense," Watkins said. "Jackson's a good basketball team and they're not letting us come back at the end."

In the junior varsity game, Central pulled away late to knock off Jackson 39-30.