Jackson's 3 barrage buries Seckman

~ The Indians shot 55 percent from beyond the arc in their win.

JACKSON -- The Jackson girls basketball team lives and dies by the 3-pointer most nights.

The Indians lived by it against Seckman in Class 5 District 1 semifinal action Wednesday.

Jackson, which scored 13 points in the first 13 minutes, 12 seconds of the contest, caught fire from 3-point range late in the second quarter and stayed hot throughout the third quarter to overcome a 10-point first-half deficit and rout the Jaguars 66-41.

Jackson (13-10), the No. 2 seed, advanced to the district title game, where it will play No. 1 Poplar Bluff at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Indians hit 11 3-pointers in the game. Four of those treys came during a 14-4 run over the final 2:48 of the second quarter. Jackson also nailed three more 3s in the third quarter while outscoring Seckman 24-3.

"They just kind of kept falling for us," Jackson junior Ashten Howard said. "That was a good momentum changer for us -- just to keep shooting. Every day is different. Some days the shots fall, and some days they don't. But you always have to work through it."

Howard and Kelci Keith both had a team-high 21 points and combined to pour in eight treys.

Howard went 7-for-19 from the field, while Keith went 7-for-9, including a 4-for-5 performance from beyond the arc.

Jackson coach Sam Sides said many times this year that shooting has been one weakness for the Indians. And the team was cold on offense at the start of the game, starting off 0-for-5.

While the Indians struggled to find a groove, Seckman looked strong, leading 10-7 after the first quarter and then going on an 8-3 run in the first 4:45 of the second quarter to take an 18-10 lead.

Seckman's Lauren Gromact sparked the spurt, hitting four 3-pointers in a 15-point first half.

"She definitely could hit them," Howard said. "We just tried to play her tighter because we gave her a couple open looks. So we just figured out we needed to guard her.

"They kind of [took us by surprise]. Especially when we weren't hitting and they were hitting everything. ... And we didn't know what to do, but we eventually got out there and got after it."

The Indians started heating up with 2:48 left before halftime.

Howard hit a 3-pointer to bring the score to 18-13, then hit another one to make it 18-16 with 1:42 remaining. Keith then scored three baskets, including two 3-pointers, over the final 1:12 of the half to give Jackson a 24-22 lead at the break.

"That was really important," Keith said about the final 2 minutes of the second quarter. "It gave us momentum."

Jackson's Whitney McNeely, who had seven assists, said when Howard and Keith start shooting well, it picks up the whole team.

"Once we started hitting more often in the game, we all started getting more pumped up and we all work together as a team really well," McNeely said. "In the first two quarters, we always start out slow. But we try to pull it together."

Howard said the most important message Sides delivered at halftime was to tell the players to continue with the same intensity as it had in the final part of the second period.

"We finally hit some shots at the very end of the first half, and we just needed to go out there and play our hardest and for as long as you can," Howard said.

Jackson did just that, outscoring Seckman 24-3 in the third quarter. That included a 15-0 run in the first 3:45 of the second half, with Keith scoring eight points and Howard three.

"They [Keith and Howard] were just on fire," Seckman coach Joe Salsman said. "Any time a team hits 11 3-pointers, it's tough to beat them. We were playing pretty good the first quarter and a half, and luckily they weren't hitting anything. And then all of a sudden you look up, and they hit 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 3-pointers in a row and it goes from a two-point game to a 20-point game in the blink of an eye. We just didn't have an answer for those two."

Jackson went 22-for-56 from the field (39 percent), including 11-for-20 from 3-point range (55 percent).

Seckman 10 12 3 16 -- 41

Jackson 7 17 24 18 -- 66

Seckman (41) -- Tori Tyner 3, Lauren Gromact 15, Molly Stein 2, Marissa Lehnig 18, Courtney Keim 1, Samantha Brooks 2. FG 10, FT 17-28, F 16. (3-pointers: Gromact 4. Fouled out: Gromact)

Jackson (66) -- Cody Goodpasture 4, Taylor Glueck 3, Cassandra Bollinger 1, Allison Smith 3, Ashten Howard 21, Whitney McNeely 4, Kelci Keith 21, Jordan Smith 3, Landon Wachter 6. FG 22-56, FT 11-15, F 23. (3-pointers: Howard 4, Keith 4, Allison Smith 1, Jordan Smith 1, Glueck 1 . Fouled out: none)