Farmington girls upset Jackson in semifinals

After three losses in the regular season to the Indians, the Knightettes won 45-35.

By Brian Rosener ~ Daily American Republic

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The fourth time turned out to be a curse for Jackson.

After winning the first three meetings, including by 14 points just two weeks ago at Farmington, the Lady Indians had their season ended by the Knightettes with a 45-35 loss in Monday's Class 5 District 1 semifinal.

"We didn't play very well," Jackson coach Sam Sides said. "You name it, they did it better than we did."

In the other semifinal, top-seeded Poplar Bluff beat Cape Central 59-19. The Mules will play the third-seeded Knightettes in Thursday's championship.

Farmington (20-5), which scored the first six points of the game and opened the second quarter with seven consecutive points, never trailed after losing the first three meetings by 20 combined points. Jackson (22-4) trailed 10-7 after the first quarter, but Cassie Tiefenauer's 3-pointer gave Farmington a 10-point lead with four minutes to play in the half. The Indians committed 11 first-half turnovers, as Farmington took a 22-14 lead at the break.

"We didn't handle the ball very well the last half of the season really," Sides said. "We've got to do that to execute our offense, and the ball didn't go in the hole.

The Knightettes led 32-20 after three quarters and by as many as 14 after that.

Bobbie Jones, who led Jackson with nine points, knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 40-30 with 2:45 to play, but the Lady Indians never got closer. Farmington got a rebound off its only missed free throw, while Jackson was 2-of-9 from downtown in the final quarter.

Randie Wooldridge led the Knightettes with 15 points, while Natalie Hooss added 12.

Jackson's Lindsay Poole hit a pair of 3s for six points, while Kylie Werner added five points off the bench.

Poplar Bluff 59, Cape Central 19

The Lady Tigers missed their first 15 shots from the field and were held scoreless for the first 10:21.

The Lady Mules (20-6), scoring the first 21 points of the game, led 33-1 at halftime. Dani Gross hit Central's first field goal early in the third quarter.

Senior Erica Schabbing scored six points while sophomore Christina Sexton added four for Central (5-22).

Poplar Bluff was led by Tierra Johnson's 21 points.