Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
JACKSON — Lurking in the shadows and not drawing too much attention to its program, Jackson is slowly starting to figure it out.
All of those early season letdowns have turned into lessons learned, and Monday was the latest example of a test passed.
Despite trailing midway through the fourth quarter, the Ironladies made a late push and knocked down enough free throws in the home stretch for a 44-40 victory over Zane Trace.
“I thought the girls played really hard and showed a lot of resiliency. We had a couple eight-point leads and lost them, but never stopped fighting,” Jackson coach Chad Carpenter said. “The girls never gave up, got stops defensively when we needed them and made some big free throws in big spots.”
CREDIT: Brock Netter/SOSA
The victory marks back-to-back wins for Jackson (7-13) for the first time this season.
“We’ve played five games early in the season and lost them by three possessions or less, so there were a lot of lessons learned about closing our games,” Carpenter said. “Whether it was free throws or untimely turnovers, those small details are starting to click and work in our favor. There’s been a lot of growth and understanding of what it takes to win a close game, and our girls are battle-tested.”
Sydney Carpenter opened the game with five of Jackson’s first seven points, quickly putting her team ahead 7-4. She later buried a 3 before a bucket from Lakyn Saunders gave Jackson a 13-8 lead after the first quarter.
Zane Trace (4-14) fought back to open the second with back-to-back buckets from Emma Houston, before a score from Brynn Snavely completed a 6-0 run for a 14-13 advantage.
Jackson’s Lillian Mapes followed with a trey, followed by a bucket from Lexi Hughes to put Jackson back in the lead. Mapes then connected again to keep the Ironladies ahead 20-18 going into halftime.
Houston and Haylynn Boggess-Pierce open the third with scores to give Zane Trace a 22-20 lead, and that’s when Carpenter went on a heater.
PHOTOS: Images from Jackson’s win over Zane Trace
She knocked down two triples, with a pair of scores sandwiched in between, to cap a personal 10-0 run to put Jackson back ahead at 30-20.
“One thing I’ve learned is that I’m not good at taking set shots. I have to be in rhythm when I take those shots and the team did a great job of making it happen,” Sydney Carpenter said. “We drove the middle and got defenders to come out and help, which led to us kicking the ball out for open shots. We all worked together really well offensively and defensively. I just happened to be the one to score during that time. But it was all because of my team.”
Still, Zane Trace had plenty of fight left and earned frequent flier miles at the free throw line, knocking down 12-of-12 opportunities at the charity stripe to climb back and narrow the gap to 34-32 heading to the fourth.
Boggess-Pierce opened the fourth with a bucket before Houston split a pair at the line to polish off a 9-0 run, putting the Pioneers ahead 35-34 before Carpenter scored a runout basket to put Jackson back in front.
Behind free throws from Carpenter and Lauryn Walburn, and a bucket from Jaylynn Montgomery, the Ironladies extended that edge to 41-37.
ZT’s Kaydance Burkitt splashed a 3 to bring the game to within 41-40 before Montgomery split a pair at the line, pushing the lead to 42-40. Zane Trace then had a great look at the tying basket but overshot the attempt, which led to Mapes closing the game with two free throws to seal the victory.
“We now know that feeling of winning and we’ve won four of our last seven games, so we’re feeling good,” Walburn said. “Coming off the win against Chillicothe, momentum has been high with us and this only elevates it. We definitely have some winnable games left, so we have to keep playing well.”
Carpenter finished with 21 points to lead all scorers, followed by eight points each from Walburn and Mapes.
For Zane Trace, Boggess-Pierce finished with 12 points, Snavely also had 12 points, and Houston had 11 points and nine rebounds.
Jackson added another win to its resume on Thursday, beating Minford by a 39-33 final. The Ironladies will next travel to Meigs on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Zane Trace is set to host Piketon on Saturday.
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