Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — The Frontier Athletic Conference’s defending champions still sit atop the throne.
SOSA File Photo
Relying on experience and a couple timely plays from unsuspecting players, Jackson managed to escape Chillicothe with a tough 54-51 victory on Saturday in FAC action.
In addition to taking sole possession of first place at the top of the conference standings, the victory also keeps Jackson undefeated this season at 7-0.
“What a great atmosphere and it truly lived up to what a first place conference game should be like,” Jackson coach Matt Walburn said. “It wasn’t a make or break game for our season, but it’s the biggest one we’ve played up to this point and I thought we did a great job of maintaining our composure. We told them it wasn’t going to be easy against a tough, well-coached team with a lot of athletes, but we managed to get it done.”
A huge part of the Ironladies’ victory was slowing down the impact of Chillicothe’s Jacey Harding.
Jackson threw multiple bodies at her and limited her to one-shot chances, holding her scoreless in the first half and without a field goal in the fourth.
“She’s a great player and she deserves a lot of credit,” Jackson’s T.J. Carpenter said. “I play with her during the summer and she can make shots from anywhere on the floor. She’s [Chillicothe’s] motor and she keeps them going whether it’s scoring or setting up her teammates. So to keep her off the scoreboard for awhile and make other players score definitely helps.”
Chillicothe (5-2, 4-1 FAC) shot out to a quick 7-2 lead to open the game, but Walburn answered with five straight points to tie the game at 7-7. She had the opening seven points for Jackson before ending the first quarter with nine points and five rebounds to put her team ahead 14-12 after eight minutes.
The Ironladies began to slowly create distance by hustling on the boards and getting to the rim.
Carpenter, Walburn, Kenzie Davis and Sydney Hughes all scored as they went on an 11-5 spree to own the biggest lead of the game at 25-17.
However, the Cavaliers answered behind Nyanna Hatfield and Miranda McCloy to erode the halftime deficit to 29-24.
After closing the gap to two possessions, the Cavaliers knew it was time to apply the pressure and they forced a pair of turnovers to begin the third, turning them into buckets on the other end.
Avery Erslan then canned a triple to tie the game at 35-35 before Hughes scored to keep Jackson ahead.
That’s when Harding finally got a shot to fall and followed it with a triple to put the Cavaliers ahead 40-37. Harding scored seven straight points, then dished an assist to Hatfield for a trey, giving Chillicothe a 45-41 lead heading to the fourth.
“We have our keys to victory every game, and the first one for us is always attitude and effort,” Matt Walburn said. “What kind of attitude are you going to have and what type of effort are you going to give when you play a team like Chillicothe? Are you just going through the motions, or are you going to be great at the little things? Communicating, boxing out, being mentality tough … those are the things in big moments that make the difference between winning and losing.”
Trailing 47-45, Kenzie Davis and Sydney Carpenter combined to go on a 5-0 run that put Jackson back ahead at 50-47 with 3:10 left.
Davis, however, then fouled out. But it was Sydney Carpenter and Sophia Metzler who arguably made the biggest two plays of the game down the stretch.
Carpenter cut through the Cavaliers’ defense and dished out an assist to Metzler for the final field goal of the game.
Later, Metzler came up with an offensive rebound off a missed free throw for an extra possession allowing Jackson to chew more clock before hitting two free throws to make it a 54-51 lead with six seconds left.
Chillicothe managed to push the ball down the court and get off a final shot, but it hit off the side of the basket and fell to the ground, preserving the win for the Ironladies.
“Sophia hasn’t been playing basketball very long. As a matter of fact, she was playing football in seventh grade,” Matt Walburn said. “But she’s a senior and we trust her to know what she needs to do. She comes in, makes a big shot and gets a couple big rebounds. That was huge for her confidence and us as a team with her playing in the final three minutes. She did such a great job.”
Mattie Walburn finished with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, followed by T.J. Carpenter with 11 points and seven rebounds. Davis finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.
For Chillicothe, Hatfield finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, followed by Harding with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Jackson returns to action on Monday in non-league action at Logan while Chillicothe rebounds on Wednesday at Jonathan Alder.
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