JACKSON FLEXES NO. 1 MUSCLES IN KO OF ND

Midway through the second quarter, the featherweight Lady Bulldogs of Notre Dame had landed a few jabs to the body of heavily favored heavyweight Jackson and trailed just 24-19.

Then, like a boxer terrified by the sight of his own blood, the top-ranked team in Class 4A tightened its grip and punished the Lady Bulldogs with a dizzying uppercut in the form of a 20-0 run and ended up knocking out Notre Dame 62-44.

Notre Dame kept pace with the Lady Indians throughout the first half, trailing 18-12 after the first quarter and 30-19 at halftime.

But Jackson dominated the third quarter like one would have expected against a 9-9 Class 2A school.

The Lady Bulldogs committed seven turnovers in the first half. They committed nine in the third quarter.

Jackson head coach Ron Cook credited part of the third-quarter dominance to a minor adjustment in the full-court press that the Lady Indians made at halftime.

"We changed our trap a little bit and it paid off," said Cook, who celebrated his birthday with the win. "We took the center away and I'm glad that it worked."

"Coach told us to pick up our defense (at halftime) and we did that," said Jackson senior Melissa Palmer, who scored a game-high 18 points. "And everybody started taking it to the hole."

Once the Lady Indians created the turnovers, they knew what to do with it in the open court.

"I liked the way we ran the floor tonight," Cook said.

Strategy aside, though, the game was a simple case of one team overpowering the other.

"Jackson's just a very good team," Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim said. "I thought we came out and played well in the first quarter, but they're just so deep, you just can't stay with them.

"We turned the ball over too many times in the third quarter and we didn't do what we needed to do to get back into the game."

"Notre Dame came out and shot well in the first half and did a good job executing," Cook said. "By district time they're going to be good for 2A."

Palmer was one of four players to score in double figures for Jackson and 14 of her points came in the first half.

"The team really looked inside tonight," Palmer said. "Then they'd double team me and I'd just kick it back out."

Chrissi Glastetter added 14 points for Jackson (12-1), followed by Cherish Tillman with 12 and Andrea Koeper with 10.

Koeper and Tillman keyed Jackson's third-quarter spurt. The duo scored 10 consecutive points to open the second half.

"This team really likes to pass the ball around," Cook said. "I was really happy with that. That's one thing about this team. They're not a self-centered team."

Randi Senciboy scored 14 points and was the only player in double figures for Notre Dame.