JACKSON GIRLS FINALLY MAKE TRIUMPHANT DEBUT

JACKSON -- The Jackson High girls basketball team would've liked to have played a game at home in the 1996 portion of the 1996-97 season, but who could blame the Lady Indians for accepting invitations to events like the KMOX Shootout and HealthSouth Classic and a game at Cor Jesu?

The Lady Indians' tour of gyms between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau ended with their first home game of the season against Fredericktown on Friday.

Jackson, the last team in the area to make its home debut, must have been as excited to be home as its fans were to see them: the Lady Indians jumped out to a 13-2 lead and cruised to a 55-32 win. Jackson never trailed.

The game was the second meeting between the two teams. Jackson beat the Lady Black Cats by a similar score in the finals of the Farmington Tournament in early December.

Jackson, the No. 1 ranked team in the state in Class 4A, improved to 7-1, dropping Fredericktown to 3-3. Jackson hasn't lost to a Missouri team this year -- the Lady Indians' only loss was to Carlyle, Ill.

"People have been asking when we were going to play one (a home game)," said Jackson coach Ron Cook. "It's good to play in front of our home crowd and we had a good crowd tonight."

The game featured three distinct periods. After the burst in the first quarter, Jackson experimented -- with less than desirable results -- with perimeter shooting in the second quarter, and then settled back into its methodical half-court offense and controlled the second half.

After amassing its lead on transition baskets and short jumpers, Jackson missed all seven of its 3-point attempts in the second quarter and went only 4 of 17 from the field. The Lady Indians' 24-7 lead two minutes into the second quarter dwindled to 13 points, 26-13, with a minute and a half before halftime.

Jackson shot 50 percent in the first, third and fourth quarters combined and 42 percent for the game.

"We've been off a few days and we didn't shoot the ball very well from the outside," said Cook. "We were impatient about shooting the outside shot; we shot four or five 3-pointers and we shot them after only one or two passes."

Jackson's lead stayed between 14 to 25 points in the second half. Both coaches cited Jackson's offensive rebounding as a key to the game.

"If you don't let them get out to that lead then things are different; most of the game we stayed within 14 or 15 points," said Fredericktown coach Lonny Sheldon.

Cook said the fact that the lead stayed relatively the same throughout the game made the contest less than exhilarating.

"I imagine it was a boring game to the fans tonight," Cook said. "It seemed like it was a slow-motion type of game; we got up by 15 points in the first half and it remained there for a long time."

Jackson's Michelle Millham, a 5-foot-11 senior and two-time all-stater, led all scorers with 16 points, most of which came a couple feet from the basket.

Also for the Lady Indians, Christa Millham had 11 points and Shannon Perry added 10.

Lindsey Merrill, Fredericktown's 6-2 senior center, totaled 12 points and Kristen Tripp added 11.

Jackson's next two games will be at home. District rival Poplar Bluff will come to town on Monday, then Charleston on Thursday.

The Lady Indians will then go back on the road to play the No. 1 ranked team in the St. Louis area -- St. Joseph's Academy -- next Saturday.

Jackson won Friday's JV game 50-14. Freshman Cherish Tillman led the Lady Indians with 10 points.