JACKSON UNWINDS NOTRE DAME IN 2ND HALF 52-29

For one half, Notre Dame High girls basketball coach Jerry Grim watched his team match one of the best basketball teams in the state step for step.

The second half he wore a perpetual grimace.

At Notre Dame Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs committed 11 turnovers in the third quarter alone and lost to Jackson 52-29.

Notre Dame had several leads in the first half and led 17-16 a minute and half before halftime.

In the closing seconds of the opening half Jackson fired a 3-pointer from the baseline that soared over the basket. With no one around her, Jackson's Chrissi Glastetter caught the errant shot and easily scored at the buzzer to make the score 20-17.

The play appeared to serve as an omen for things to follow.

The lapse by Notre Dame (11-6) was followed by a third quarter which included almost nothing but mistakes. With Notre Dame having trouble getting the ball past halfcourt, Jackson went on a 17-1 run. The Lady Indians' Shannon Perry, who led all scorers with 12 points, started the run with three straight jumpers.

The Lady Indians outscored Notre Dame 20-3 in the third period. The Lady Bulldogs made only three field goals in the second half.

"We threw a lot of pressure at them and I was really happy with our defense tonight," said Jackson coach Ron Cook, whose team is ranked third in the state in Class 4A and improved to 13-2. "We went to a man-to-man full court press (in the third quarter) instead of a zone press and we got more off that.

"They only had 12 points in the second half and we're really pleased with that."

Notre Dame had only seven players. Jennifer Glueck, the starting point guard, was out with injury, and that might have led to some fatigue in the third quarter.

"Every time down the floor we were just turning the ball over; the third quarter just killed us," said Grim. "We went back to trying to hurry things and we weren't running our offense much. Fatigue may have had something to do with it, but after the halftime rest it really shouldn't have bothered them that bad."

Grim said that Jackson presented similar pressure in the first half, but for some inexplicable reason his team couldn't handle it in the second half.

"They pressed us in the first half and I thought we handled the ball pretty decent. We had seven turnovers in the first half and we ended up with 22 turnovers," Grim said.

Jackson's defensive dominance in the third quarter was accompanied by better offense. The Lady Indians matched their first-half point total in the third period alone.

"We moved the ball up and down the floor better (in the second half)," Cook said. "We had better shot selection. We made some outside shots tonight and that helped us out a lot."

Notre Dame's only double digit scorer was sophomore Randi Senciboy with 10 points. Melissa Maurer added seven points and Tracy Blattel made six free throws.

For Jackson, Christa Millham and Glastetter both had nine points. Michele Millham, a two-time all-stater and a former player at Notre Dame, was held to six points.