Jackson uses defense to down Poplar Bluff

The Jackson Indians bounced back from a loss on Monday with a commanding 61-45 win over the Poplar Bluff Mules on Tuesday at Jackson High School.

Indians coach Adam Stoneking said the team was ready to put Monday’s loss to South Iron behind them.

“Anytime we have a loss we want to use it (as a learning experience),” Stoneking said. “We have an event, then a response and then we see what the outcome of that is. We had the event last night and we didn't finish the game. Tonight we had a response which was this game and the outcome was what we wanted.”

The Indians led 17-10 after the first quarter and thanks to some relentless defense they were able to turn defense into offense to lead 34-14 as the two teams entered the locker room at halftime.

Stoneking felt his team did a better job of attacking on offense and finishing possessions on defense.

“They were really overplaying without a lot of help inside,” Stoneking said. “We did a good job of finishing defensive possessions, not just forcing a miss but getting the rebound as well.”

Indians junior Holland Guilliams said the team knew they needed to pick their game up.

“We realized we needed to buckle down,” Guilliams said. “We needed to get into the passing lanes and get after it.”

The start of the third quarter belonged heavily to the Mules as they were able to cut into the Indians' lead temporarily before the Indians took over once again to sustain their 20-point lead entering the fourth quarter up 53-33.

Leading the balanced offensive attack for the Indians was Katie Waller with 19 points. Guilliams followed up with 12 points of her own. Also contributing was Nadia Wasilewski with 8 points and Aubrey Brothers and Camryn Alsdorf with 7 points each.

Adrianne Casey led the way for Poplar Bluff with 16 points in the loss. Neveah Larkins had 13 points, Clara Rahlmann had 8 points and Madelyn Eads had 4 points.

Poplar Bluff (7-12) will resume play at 7:30 p.m. when the Mules hit the road to take on Oran at Oran High School.

Jackson (13-5) will be back in action at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 9 when the Indians travel to take on the Notre Dame Bulldogs at Notre Dame Regional High School.

“We’re pumped,” Guilliams said. “We just want to get in there and play to the best of our ability.”

“You just want to go out and play well,” Stoneking said. “If you win you have a good chance of winning the conference because whoever wins stays unbeaten in conference play. We just hope to go out there and play well.”