Jackson girls cruise in wire-to-wire victory

Jackson was money on offense and stifling on defense.

That combination led the Indians to a 66-33 rout of rival Central at the Show Me Center on Tuesday night.

"It was a big thing," Central coach Sherri Shirrell said of the Indians' shooting. "They were shooting real well and their matchup zone gave us fits."

The Indians shot 22 of 35 (63 percent) inside the arc, while holding the Tigers (13-7) to 10 of 26 (38 percent) on the night.

"We knew we had to get after them quickly," Jackson senior guard Kaylen Knepp said. "Our offense comes from our defense so we had to get after them on defense ... Everybody was hitting tonight."

Central's Paige Smith shoots over Jackson's Connor King during Tuesday's game at the Show Me Center. (LAURA SIMON)

Jackson (13-6) scored the game's first two points and never trailed.

The Indians built their lead in the first with the hot shooting of sophomore Dru Haertling, who scored eight of her 10 points in the quarter. Haertling connected on 3 of 4 shots from the field and added a free throw in the period.

Haertling's 3-pointer with 4 minutes, 29 seconds remaining in the first quarter gave the Indians a 12-6 lead. Knepp then buried a trey on the Indians' next trip down the floor.

"It gave our team confidence," Jackson coach Shelia Haertling said.

The Tigers closed to within 17-13 on a basket by Sadie Pittman, but Jackson rattled off four points to take a 21-13 lead after one.

In the second, the Indians used a big run to seize control.

After Central's Chelsea Vinson scored the first basket of the quarter, Jackson answered with an 11-0 run as Makenzie Quade scored the last five points of the run, including a 3-pointer, for a 32-15 lead.

Jackson carried a 34-19 lead into half.

"That was huge," coach Haertling said. "Going into the second to be that far up, we could take a deep breath at half, change our defense a little and reinforce that we have to play under control."

A Pittman 3-pointer at the 3:47 mark of the third quarter brought the Tigers to 39-25, but Central got no closer.

Jackson took a 45-28 lead into the final quarter and promptly buried the Tigers in the opening minutes of the period with a 12-0 run.

Connor King scored four straight points, Whitney McNeely added a two, Quade hit a basket, King scored again and Knepp hit a two as Jackson went up 57-30.

"That was sweet," Knepp said. "We had to stay calm, but it was exciting to beat them by 30 points. It was our best team game."

Paige Smith scored with 3:22 left in the fourth, ending a scoreless stretch of nearly five minutes for Central.

"The ball wasn't falling," Shirrell said. "We had some good looks, just not falling. Give Jackson a lot of credit. They played outstanding defense and shot the ball well throughout the game."

The Indians finished off their rival with a running clock for the majority of the final two minutes.

Jackson was paced by Knepp's 11 points. Pittman led all scorers with 13.

Jackson 21 14 11 17 -- 63

Central 13 6 9 5 -- 33

JACKSON (63) -- Dru Haertling 10, Brooke Sanders 6, Kaylen Knepp 11, Connor King 9, Kylie Seyer 6, Cassandra Bollinger 8, Makenzie Quade 7, Laurie Clippard 2, Whitney McNeely 4. FG 25, FT 10-13, F 16. (3-pointers: Haertling, Quade, Knepp. Fouled out: none.)

CENTRAL (33) -- Sadie Pittman 13, Chelsea Pannier 8, Paige Smith 5, Chelsea Vinson 7. FG 12, FT 7-12, F 12. (3-pointers: Pitmann, Pannier. Fouled out: none.)