Young talent shines as Jackson Indians remain undefeated in SEMO Conference

The Jackson Indians girls basketball team defeated the Saxony Lutheran Crusaders 61-27 on Monday, Feb. 17, at Saxony Lutheran High School in Jackson.

Freshman Addison Henderson led Jackson with 16 points, followed by freshman Kate Deck with 14 and senior Camryn Alsdorf with 12. Freshman Kenzie Keys led the Crusaders with 13 points.

With the victory, Jackson remains undefeated in the SEMO Conference, with four conference games left to play. Indians head coach Angela Fulton said her team will have to improve on rebounding and defense to remain in the running for the regular-season conference championship.

“We have to clean up the boards. Defensively, we’re gonna have to become more solid. I thought we were kind of lackadaisical today on the defensive end,” Fulton said. “I don't know if it's because we pushed our press off so quickly, but we’ve got to learn how to play a half-court game. If we're in trouble, and we need to go half-court, we’ve got to be able to handle that.”

With the victory, the Indians extended their winning streak to 10 games, their longest since winning eight in a row in the 2018-19 season. Jackson has not lost a game in 2025, with its last loss coming Dec. 20 against St. Vincent in the First State Community Bank Holiday Classic championship.

Fulton said her team has grown a lot during this stretch and has consistently improved.

“They’re warriors. They're beasts. They get after it when they need to,” Fulton said. “They’re just good kids, they're passionate about the game. They love the game and they’re going to give everything they have every game.”

Jackson has New Madrid County Central, Dexter, Sikeston and Notre Dame left on the conference schedule along with very tough Class 6 opponents Hazelwood West and Cor Jesu Academy. Fulton said the team will take things one game at a time.

“Our next opponent is New Madrid, they’re a good team. If we don't come out and correct what we need to correct, they could hurt us,” Fulton said. “So moving forward, we're gonna focus on New Madrid and getting better at the things we need to work on.”

As the Indians are such a young team with only one starting senior, several of the underclassmen are heading into their first postseason. Fulton said she is seeing improvement from everyone, but the players need to step up when it’s a win-or-go-home situation.

“We need to improve on our defense. We need them to understand that in order for us to get to what we want to do, we're gonna have to clean up the defensive end and the boards,” Fulton said.

Jackson heads to New Madrid County Central at 6 p.m. Thursday to take on the Eagles, while Saxony Lutheran travels to North County at 7:30 p.m. Thursday to take on the Raiders.