ST. JOSEPH'S DEFEATS JACKSON GIRLS IN TRIPLE OVERTIME 52-49

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis has been a tough place to play this season for Jackson's girls basketball team.

Jackson lost to St. Joseph's Academy 52-49 Saturday afternoon in three overtimes. St. Joseph's is rated the top large-school team in the St. Louis area by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Jackson dropped to 8-2. The Lady Indians' other loss came to Carlyle, Ill., in the KMOX/Coca Cola Shootout at the Kiel Center in St. Louis.

Jackson trailed by a point with seconds remaining in the third overtime, but couldn't come up with a steal, and St. Joseph's scored in the final seconds.

"It was a good game; we had a possibility of winning the game," said Jackson coach Ron Cook. "With a couple of breaks we could have won."

Cook said that his team committed too many turnovers and had trouble against St. Joseph's size.

"We made some unforced turnovers and we didn't take enough shots; we didn't have a lot of offensive rebounds," Cook said.

If Jackson, which finished second in the Class 4A state tournament last season, makes it out of its district this year, a rematch with St. Joseph's could occur.

"I feel like we can beat them," Cook said.

Jackson's Michele Millham scored a team-high 16 points and fouled out in the third overtime. Her sister, Christa Millham, added 13 points.

For St. Joseph's, Vanessa Fabbre had 16 points and Meg Dougherty and Erica Schuette both had 10.