Jackson girls rally past Principia with second-half surge

The Jackson Indians girls basketball team defeated the Principia Panthers 45-35 on Monday at the Jackson High School Event Center.

Camryn Alsdorf and Kate Deck led the Class 6 sixth-ranked Indians with 14 points each. Jayla Hawkins led the Class 3 first-ranked Panthers with 12 points.

The first quarter was a nightmarish start for Jackson as it only had chances to score from the free-throw line, hitting on just four of 10. However, Jackson's defense held strong, only trailing 7-4 after the first.

The second quarter began just as badly. Back-to-back 3s by the Panthers gave them a 13-4 lead and forced Jackson into a timeout. After the break, Jackson closed out the quarter scoring 12 of the next 19 points to trail just 20-16 at the half.

Indians head coach Angela Fulton said her team never steered from the course despite the slow start.

“I think we only had four points and they had 13 at some point. I think it could have gone either way. But what I'm most proud of is the fact that they kept fighting,” Fulton said. “We kept battling and our game plan worked to a tee. We got their best player into foul trouble, and that was our goal to fluster her.”

Lilly Watkins ran the show for the Indians in the third as the junior dropped six points, including a 3-pointer, giving Jackson the lead. The Indians held a 30-27 advantage entering the final frame.

Alsdorf and Deck added seven and five, respectively, in the fourth to put the game away with some 3s of their own and a combined 3 of 4 from the charity stripe.

Fulton said both sides of the ball improved drastically after halftime.

“We go into halftime and tell them, ‘Hey, we're in trouble if we stop shooting. We have to keep going.’ That mentality showed we have to keep going,” Fulton said.

The Indians have seven games remaining, including five conference matchups, beginning with a short road trip to Notre Dame to take on a rolling Bulldogs team at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

“We still have a lot of work to do. Notre Dame is always a very good game and we're going to their place. We have to come back tomorrow to fix the things that we need to fix,” Fulton said. “Because if we don't, Notre Dame will make sure that we know our weaknesses; they’re a very good team. So we'll kind of regroup and enjoy tonight’s win and get back at it tomorrow.”