Brock Netter, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
JACKSON — The holiday break makes things a little tricky for every program, and Jackson is no exception.
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
Routines are off, there’s no practice and basketball is off your mind’s regular wheel of worries for a couple of days. Then you come back, it’s game day and your mental toughness is tested.
Coming off its first loss of the season, Jackson (9-1) showed no signs of fatigue — physically or mentally — as it used a hot start and maintained a rhythm, earning a 42-30 victory over Minford on Wednesday.
“Minford is a really good basketball team. They’re just young and we had the experience advantage,” Jackson coach Matt Walburn said. “They’ve won seven games, beaten Waverly and pushed Wheelersburg to overtime so there’s talent and [Minford] coach [Chuck] Miller has done a really nice job with those girls. But I thought we did a great job setting the tone early, locking down defensively and staying on them for 32 minutes.”
With how quickly Jackson started, no one would’ve guessed the Ironladies had been on any kind of break at all. They forced four turnovers out of the gates and shot out to an early 11-0 lead.
That set the tone for the rest of the night.
Jackson forced two more turnovers, one ending in a Sydney Carpenter bucket on the other end, and held a 13-2 lead after the first quarter.
PHOTOS: Images from Jackson’s win over Minford
“I think of my role as more of a defensive player,” Carpenter said. “I go after the ball and once it’s loose, I’m going all out for it and I know I have my teammates behind me and I trust them to make a play if I can’t.”
The turnovers slowed down, but Jackson continued applying the pressure. Walburn’s crew continued getting to the rim for high percentage shots, despite the presence of Minford sophomore and 6-foot-3 center Lindsee Williams in the post.
The Falcons (7-4) had their chances as well, but the Ironladies maintained a double-digit lead throughout the frame, leading 24-10 at halftime.
“I don’t care what team it is, anytime you hold a team to just 10 points in a half, it’s impressive and we did a good job of pressuring the ball and taking advantage of turnovers,” Walburn said. “Our goal was to get out early and bring the fight to them, which I thought we did a really nice job of doing.”
Despite momentum being on Jackson’s bench, Minford came out with a fast start behind Williams in the third quarter and began to dig itself out of a hole with a 10-2 run that trimmed the lead to 26-20.
However, that run didn’t rattle the Ironladies.
Instead, they answered with a 7-1 run to end the third, following a triple from Kenzie Davis to build the lead back into double figures. It remained that way for the rest of the night.
“That’s been our big problem the whole year; the beginning of the third quarter,” Walburn said. “We’ll have momentum, but our focus isn’t quite the same at the start. But we didn’t let that get to us too much and, though we were a little gassed, we held firm and continued playing our game.”
Davis finished the night with 11 points and eight rebounds to lead Jackson, followed by 10 points from Mattie Walburn.
Williams had nine points and 12 rebounds for Minford while Lexi Conkel added seven points.
Jackson returns to action next Wednesday for non-conference action at Adena while Minford rebounds on Monday, hosting Gallia Academy.
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