The Jefferson girls’ basketball team defended its home floor on senior night in what was not the easiest of 21-point wins.
The No. 1-ranked Dragons (20-2, 9-1 Region 8-AAA) held a five-point lead late in the third quarter against East Jackson before pulling away for a 70-49 victory Friday.
“I really wasn’t worried at halftime because I didn’t feel like we played that bad,” Jefferson coach Greg Brown said. “I thought they (East Jackson) played really well. They hit a bunch of shots, some contested shots, and they kind of came out and did it again in the third quarter, but we were able to make a little bit of a run and kind of get a little bit of separation there by the end of the third. And I think our depth wore on them there late in the game.”
Jefferson outscored East Jackson, which was coming off a near-upset of Hart County, 25-9 over the last 9:29 of the contest.
“I didn’t think we played that bad — I really didn’t,” Brown said. “Give them credit. I thought they played well, and I think they’re playing well at a good time for them. They’re going to be a tough matchup in the region tournament, no doubt about it, for whoever gets them.”
Jefferson freshmen Natalia Bolden and Deshona Gaither scored 18 points each and Chloe Hiatt stepped up with 12 points in one of her best offensive games this year. Brown said those points were significant since East Jackson sought to limit Jefferson’s top scorer, Livi Blackstock, with its defensive scheme. Blackstock was held to seven points.
“When they’re trying to take something away, somebody else has got to step up and she (Hiatt) kind of filled that spot because we’ve kind of had three people all year long scoring in double figures and kind of keeping us going and she was that third one tonight,” Brown said.
East Jackson proved resilient in the first half, overcoming deficits of 13-2 and 27-13 to keep pace with the region-leading Dragons. Freshman Haven Rollins, who finished with 26 points in one of the biggest games of her career, hit a 3-pointer with a minute to go before intermission to pull the Eagles within six points, 32-26, and the score carried over into halftime. Abbie Howington also hit a 3-pointer in East Jackson’s second-quarter run.
“I am proud of the girls,” East Jackson coach Donnie Byrom said. “Haven had a stellar offensive night. Our senior, Abbie (Howington), continues to be a floor leader for us.”
Jefferson appeared to start distancing itself in the third quarter with an 11-0 run, keyed by five points from Gaither, to run out to a 45-28 advantage and force an East Jackson timeout.
But the Eagles came out of that timeout with a basket from Maurissa Thomas and back-to-back 3-pointers from Rollins as part of a 12-0 run which cut the Dragons’ lead to 45-40.
Allianne Clark stopped the run with a 3-pointer with a minute left in the third quarter, however. Jefferson, which led 51-40 heading into the fourth quarter, then put an end to the upset bid by reeling off the first 13 points of the final period to blow the game open at 64-40.
Despite the final score, the Eagles continue to play improved basketball despite being abnormally short of bench players. Byrom has dubbed his starting five “the iron five” since they rarely come of out of games, if ever.
“As far as being in the game, we cut it to five in the third quarter despite coming out of halftime and not playing well the first couple of minutes after the half,” he said. “I believe if we could have started the game, the first two minutes, better then we could have gone down to the wire. But we dug ourselves in a whole the first two minutes of both halves and had to fight to cut it back to five or six, and that just drains so much energy from you when you’re playing five kids.”
Byrom hopes his shorthanded Eagles now can string together a few wins in the remainder of regular-season — the team is at home against Jackson County Tuesday and on the road at Monroe Area Friday — and then in the first round of the 8-AAA tournament.
“Our goal is to go on a three-game winning streak and we will work towards that,” Byrom said.
As for Jefferson, it successfully avoided a letdown following a big region win over fourth-ranked Morgan County Tuesday. Brown’s young team has also been under an increased spotlight having recently taken over the No. 1 spot in Class AAA.
“Just trying to focus on the task at hand,” Brown said of the team’s mindset. “They don’t really hear me talk about us being No. 1, they don’t hear me talking about the next opponent past today. I’ve cut down practice to where we’re just trying to focus in for about an hour and 15-20 minutes on what we need to do that day to get better.”
Jefferson would earn the No. 1 seed entering the region tournament if it can win its next two games, though that includes a road trip to No. 5 Hart County Tuesday.
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