Jackson girls rebound from rare loss

After watching his team suffer only its second loss of the season on Saturday, Jackson girls basketball coach Sam Sides was not sure what to expect from his squad at home Monday against a strong Doniphan squad.

Sides got his answer early on, as Jackson jumped out to a 16-5 first-quarter advantage, held off a Doniphan run in the second quarter, and cruised to a 56-35 win.

"I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't sure what we'd do," Sides said. "I thought we came ready to play tonight."

Added Jackson sophomore Amanda Peiffer, "It felt good to come back and get a win. We expected them to come out hard, so we were pumped and ready to play."

The win pushed Jackson's record to 19-2. Jackson won seven straight after its first loss, and another seven straight wins would give the Indians the district title.

"That would be a pretty good omen," Sides said. "I'll take that. But we still have a lot of tough games left."

While usually an undersized squad, Jackson was able to take advantage of a rare size advantage over the visiting Donettes (13-4). From the outset of the game, the 5-foot-10 Peiffer became Jackson's primary target on offense. Peiffer scored the Indians' first five points and had seven points in the opening quarter.

"We did a good job getting it in to her," Sides said. "We had to take advantage of that. We're not going to outsize many teams."

Jackson was cruising along until late in the first half. Ahead 26-11, its biggest lead to that point, Jackson began to turn the ball over. Doniphan took advantage, going on a 7-0 run to close the half, which ended with Jackson leading 26-18.

Doniphan scored the first bucket out of halftime to cut the lead to 26-20, but Jackson went back inside and regained its composure. Doniphan got within five points at 30-25 a few minutes later, but that was as close as the Donettes would get.

Sides said while his team has had problems responding to opposing team's runs this season, they did a good job against Doniphan.

"Even though they made a run, we fought back and kept them at bay," he said.

Peiffer led Jackson in scoring with 21 points, a season-high for the sophomore. Bobbie Jones and Kylie Werner had nine points apiece.

"Coach has been working with me on slowing down my shot and finishing it," Peiffer said.

Jackson is off until Monday, when it faces Sikeston in its final home game.

Jackson 56, Doniphan 35

Doniphan 5 13 9 8 -- 35

Jackson 16 10 14 16 -- 56

DONIPHAN (35) -- Hailee Deckard 11, Morgan Davis 10, Kaci Price 6, Haily Reed 6, Terra Milner 1, Jaysa Blackwell 1. FG 12, FT 8-12, F 15 (3-pointers: Reed 2, Davis 1. Fouled out: none)

JACKSON (56) -- Amanda Peiffer 21, Bobbie Jones 9, Kylie Werner 9, Loni Littlepage 6, Kelly Loos 4, Tara Kelley 2, Kara Vangilder 2, Lindsay Poole 3. FG 21, FT 13-20, F 15 (3-pointers: Werner 1. Fouled out: none)