Jackson shows new scheme in 81-47 win against Central

The Jackson girls basketball team debuted a new defense against Central on Tuesday night at the Show Me Center.

"We'd been working a little bit on our full-court defense and we talked about rotating better out of it," Jackson coach Shelia Haertling said. "I think that helped us. We came out tonight just focusing on really good defense and playing our game. It just happened to work for us."

Actually, it worked exceedingly well.

The Indians forced turnovers on Central's first four possessions and converted all four into points on their way to an 81-47 win over their rival.

"We worked on a new defense where instead of just playing straight with our man, it's more of a run-and-jump and we trap and rotate, and I think that worked really well right from the beginning," Jackson senior Brooke Sanders said.

Central's Chelsea Pannier, left, grabs the ball from Jackson's Danielle Daume as the Tigers' Allie Hardesty looks on Tuesday. (Fred Lynch)

"We been practicing it, but this is the first game we've really tried this. We usually go straight man."

Jackson quickly opened a 14-0 lead before Chelsea Vinson scored Central's first points more than three minutes into the game.

"We didn't handle their pressure at all," Central coach Sherri Shirrell said. "Give them credit, they came out and they played well at the beginning and we just didn't handle it too well. We turned the ball over too many times."

The Indians scored on the first five Central turnovers and had 24 points off 17 turnovers in the first half alone. Jackson led 47-22 at halftime.

"It's huge," Haertling said about her team's ability to turn turnovers into points. "We've had nights where we've played really well and gotten a lot of turnovers and not been able to finish, but I felt like tonight we were finishing. That's one of the other things we've been focusing on -- making the little shots."

The Indians connected on 18 of their 33 shots (55 percent) in the first half, making more shots than Central took in the first two quarters. The Tigers were 6 of 16 (38 percent) from the field in the first half.

"That they came out and pressured the ball wasn't a surprise at all," Shirrell said. "We were expecting it. We just didn't handle it too well. Our guards have got to step up and do a little better job handling the ball."

Sanders led Jackson with 22 points, many of which came on drives to the basket after the Indians worked the ball inside out.

"Brooke got a lot of baseline drives and she can finish out of this world," Jackson guard Dru Haertling said. "I'm not even kidding. She's an awesome finisher."

Dru Haertling, a junior, finished with 13 points while Danielle Daume and Makenzie Quade both added 12.

Dru Haertling attributed much of Jackson's defensive success to Quade, who was tasked with defending Central senior point guard Chelsea Pannier.

"Quade played great defense on Pannier," Dru Haertling said. "She has been playing so, so well lately. I don't know what fires her up, but something has."

Vinson led Central with 20 points, and she also had six rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Alayah Cooper-Johnson added 12 points and 11 rebounds.

"It's hard to come back when you get yourself into a deficit like that," Shirrell said. "I was proud of the kids. They didn't quit. They played hard."

Central 9 13 14 11 -- 47

Jackson 22 25 20 14 -- 81

CENTRAL (47) -- Alayah Cooper-Johnson 12, Bailey Kratochvil 5, Tori Scheller 2, Chelsea Pannier 2, Chelsea Vinson 20, Katie Williams 6. FG 17, F 13, 12-16. (3-pointers: Kratochvil 1. Fouled out: none)

JACKSON (81) -- Dru Haertling 13, Paden Wachter 2, Rachel Hodo 2, Brooke Sanders 22, Conner King 10, Kylie Seyer 5, Danielle Daume 12, Makenzie Quade 12. FG 31, F 14, FT 12-17. (3-pointers: Haertling 1, Sanders 2, Daume 2. Fouled out: none)