Jackson girls basketball team defeats Meadow Heights 41-32

~ The Jackson girls used a strong fourth quarter to defeat Meadow Heights 41-32

PATTON, Mo. -- Jackson girls basketball coach Tyler Abernathy wanted to protect one of his players in foul trouble, so he switched his team's defense.

The Indians started playing a triangle-and-two defense to ease the burden on Danielle Daume, who picked up her fourth foul midway through the third quarter.

Meadow Heights' offense never responded to the switch, which allowed the Indians to pull away for a 41-32 victory Thursday.

"They started a triangle-and-two, and our plan is to get it to the other shooters, who can shoot the 3-pointers," Meadow Heights senior Erin Bollmann said. "We weren't really running it right. We're supposed to get it inside. They got nervous and jacked up 3s."

Jackson’s Connor King shoots against Meadow Heights’ Whitney Welker during the fourth quarter Thursday in Patton, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Jackson (17-6) clung to a two-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but the Panthers' offense only shot 3-pointers through the first four minutes of the final period.

"We've worked on a triangle-and-two a little bit lately," Abernathy said. "We threw it out there and ... it's one of those things it's difficult to shoot in pressure situations. The thing is they missed their first couple, which then the pressure kind of gets more and more and more. They kept chucking it up there. A couple of them were a little open, but they were the people we wanted shooting them, so it was fine."

Taylor Cureton and Jessica Baremore combined to go 0 for 5 from 3-point range to open the fourth quarter for the Panthers (18-4).

"I've always believed when your two best shooters from the outside got a wide-open 3, you hit them," Meadow Heights coach Mark Verticchio said. "They're wide-open 3s. They just got to hit them. They didn't tonight.

"We wanted Taylor and Jess to take jump shots. Taylor and Jess did exactly what I told them to do. Now normally a triangle-and-two, a team of our size, we'd still lob the ball to Erin. It wouldn't do any good because [Jackson is] so big inside."

Meadow Heights’ Taylor Cureton drives against Jackson’s Danielle Daume during the first quarter Thursday in Patton, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

Jackson capitalized on the missed shots. The Indians started the final quarter on a 10-0 run. In fact, Meadow Heights grabbed a 26-24 lead with 2 minutes, 58 seconds left in the third quarter and didn't score again until 1:01 remained in the fourth quarter, a span of 9 minutes, 57 seconds.

The Panthers went 0 of 15 from the field during the span.

"They made sure to put their best defenders on us," Bollmann said about her and teammate Whitney Welker. "They knew the other ones hadn't been shooting that much, so they just stayed off them and attacked us, and it was working."

Bollmann scored 22 points and added seven rebounds and eight steals, but Welker was limited to eight points.

"Our biggest defensive key was to push her right and to keep her out of the paint," Jackson senior Dru Haertling said about Welker.

LEFT: Meadow Heights’ Erin Bollmann tries to shoot against Jackson’s Connor King during the second quarter (ABOVE: Jackson’s Danielle Daume takes a shot as Meadow Heights’ Whitney Welker looks on.)

Abernathy said the defensive plan against the Panthers was simple.

"The key was if you weren't guarding Welker or Bollmann was to help," he said. "You were helping. You were more worried about where they were than anything else. I thought we did a very good job of that, helping off. You can't really stop them, but you can slow them down. And we were able to take one away, which helped us greatly."

Jackson's offense tried to attack inside with 6-foot-2 senior Connor King, who already signed to play at Southeast Missouri State next season. But getting the ball to King proved difficult.

"The issue is they're so long up top," Abernathy said. "It's difficult to get it through, even when [King's] open, especially up from the top whenever Welker was in there. Then on the baseline, if you throw it down on the baseline, they like to come trap and they make it difficult for you down there, too. They do a very good job in their zone. It's not as easy as get it to one side and throw it down there."

King scored a team-high 18 points.

"They were playing a zone and really clogging it in," she said. "They had their hands up and they took up a bunch of space. My team was able to get me the ball and they made some great passes."

Jackson 6 14 8 13 -- 41

Meadow Hts 7 10 9 6 -- 32

JACKSON (41) -- Dru Haertling 10, Rachel Hodo 1, Connor King 18, Danielle Daume 6, Megan Williams 2, Emily Davidson 4. FG 17, FT 7-14, F 16. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none)

MEADOW HEIGHTS (32) -- Erin Bollmann 22, Whitney Welker 8, Taylor Cureton 2. FG 13, FT 5-11, F 13. (3-pointers: Welker 1. Fouled out: none)