Jackson girls basketball shoots past Notre Dame

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Jackson girls basketball team opened the game on a 12-2 run and closed it on an 11-2 swing to bookend a solid performance and a 63-41 victory over visiting Notre Dame on Thursday night at Jackson High School.

The Indians (12-3) never trailed in the game. Lexi Welter hit a shot for the Bulldogs (4-9) to tie things at two at 6:35 of the first quarter, but just over a minute later Rylee Stafford knocked down a 3-pointer to go up 5-2 and the hosts controlled the game the rest of the way.

"If we could erase the first three minutes and the last three minutes, it would have been good in between," Notre Dame coach Renee Peters said. "They jumped out early and we went with a smaller lineup with a little bit of size inside, but they found a way to score inside on that -- you rob Peter to pay Paul sometimes. They're very good and led by four very good seniors and it shows."

Notre Dame's Sam Brennan scored 23 points to lead all scorers, while Jackson was paced by Kayla Keith's 17 points. Autumn Reid had 10 rebounds for the home side, who also got 11 points from Stafford.

Abbey Hermann scored on the fast break with 23 seconds left on the first-period clock and Jackson took an 18-6 advantage out of the first quarter. Notre Dame fought to try to close the gap, but every time they carved the difference down to single digits, Jackson found a way to hit a shot.

"We had to make shots," Jackson coach Tyler Abernathy said. "I thought defensively we really struggled in the second and third quarter and a little bit in the fourth, but we shot the ball well enough to overcome it. I thought we shot the ball really well tonight, and we shot the ball because we passed the ball. That starts with our guards, and then I thought Kayla [Keith] did a good job passing the ball from the mid-post area.

"[The fast start] was really, really important. I thought we did a really good job in the first quarter defensively, and I thought Cass [Cassidi Tomsu] played really, really well in that first quarter. Not necessarily scoring, but man, she passed the ball. She found so many open players and really kind of set the tone."

Tomsu finished with seven assists, four of which came in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs remained pesky as Faith Essner opened up the second quarter with a layup and a foul for an old-fashioned three-point play, and Sam Brennan followed with a pair of free throws for Notre Dame, slicing the score to 18-11. But the Indians went on a quick 5-0 run in response.

It was more of the same as the quarter continued, with Maddie Urhahn sinking a 3-pointer and Brennan landing two more free throws to again make it a seven-point game, 26-19, with less than a minute left in the half.

Keith made it a nine-point game at halftime with two free throws with 42 seconds left as Jackson took a 28-19 advantage into the break.

"[Keith] has played really well," Abernathy said. "She had a knee injury last year and kind of had a slow start to the season -- she didn't get to play all summer long -- but I think you've really seen her the last two or three games really step up. She's a good player and she's starting to round back into that form."

Stafford hit another 3 just 14 seconds into the third quarter and Tomsu tacked on two shots from the charity stripe and just like that the lead was 12 points again.

The stalemate continued into the fourth quarter, with the Indians holding a 45-32 lead entering the final eight minutes. The closest Notre Dame cut it was 10 points with 5:51 left to play, and Mallorie Maintz finished a conventional three-point play to go up 50-37 and send the home team off and running.

The Bulldogs hit just one more field goal the rest of the game, while Nikki Sotak stroked a 3 and Tomsu finished off a perfect night from the free-throw line -- 8 of 8 -- to grab a 20-point lead, 61-41, with 1:26 left on the clock.

"We just have unforced errors and missed shots. That's been our battle cry all year," Peters said. "If we could just score, we'd be in a heck of a lot more ballgames. That's our Achilles' heel right now."

Notre Dame is back on the floor at Nerinx Hall on Saturday.

Jackson will play in the Lindbergh Tournament beginning Monday.

Notre Dame 6 13 13 9 -- 41

Jackson 18 10 17 18 -- 63

NOTRE DAME (41) -- Sam Brennan 23, Faith Essner 6, Maddie Urhahn 3, Lexi Welter 4, Megan Heisserer 5. FG 15-44, FT 8-10, F 16. (3-pointers: Brennan, Essner, Urhahn. Fouled out: None.)

JACKSON (63) -- Cassidi Tomsu 8, Autumn Reid 5, Rylee Stafford 11, Mallorie Maintz 8, Kayla Keith 17, Nikki Sotak 8, Abby Hermann 6. FG 21-47, FT 14-17, F 15. (3-pointers: Stafford 3, Sotak 2, Reid, Keith. Fouled out: None.)