JACKSON GIRLS PASTE 52-20 SECTIONAL LOSS ON MCCLUER

FARMINGTON -- The last time Jackson High's girls basketball team played at the Farmington Civic Center -- just last week -- the Lady Indians had to rally from an 11-point deficit to win a district title.

Wednesday night, in a return engagement at the Farmington CC, the Lady Indians needed nothing even remotely resembling a gut-wrenching finish.

Leading from wire to wire, heavily favored Jackson romped to a 52-20 Class 4A sectional victory over McCluer.

Jackson, ranked second in the state in Class 4A, advances to Saturday's 1:30 p.m quarterfinal contest against St. Joseph's Academy at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. St. Joseph's defeated Francis Howell North 47-39 Wednesday.

"It was a lot easier on me than last week (in the district final)," said Jackson coach Ron Cook with a laugh. "McCluer has a lot of quickness, but we thought if we came out and executed we would be in pretty good shape."

The Lady Indians, who improved to 25-2, were led offensively by Mindy Myers with 16 points, nine coming in the first quarter. Shannon Perry scored 13 points, eight in the opening period.

"Mindy had a good game," said Cook. "It'll be important the rest of the way that we spread our scoring out pretty good."

McCluer, which ended the season 19-8, had no player score more than six points. The Comets were also held to eight points or fewer as a team in every period.

"Jackson is really good. They've got an experienced team," said McCluer coach Spencer Fleming. "We had a young team this year and they did a good job to win district."

Jackson won handily despite the fact its leading scorer and two-time all-stater, Michele Millham, played only sparingly because she became ill Tuesday night.

"Michele had a stomach virus and she lost a lot of fluid. There was really no reason to run her down in a game like this," Cook said. "She should be fine for Saturday, when we should have a really tough game."

The Lady Indians hardly needed Millham against unranked McCluer, which provided little opposition.

Jackson scored the game's first six points and later led 15-1. The Lady Indians -- perhaps sensing the inevitable rout -- then became a bit lethargic, leading 19-8 after one quarter and 27-12 at halftime.

"We got after it pretty good at the start, but then I thought we got in a hurry too much," said Cook. "We got kind of ragged."

But the Lady Indians asserted themselves again to begin the second half and they turned the contest into a total blowout.

The Lady Indians hit McCluer with an 8-0 run to start the third quarter as they went ahead 35-12. It was 38-15 by the end of the period and Cook was able to clear his bench in the fourth quarter.

"Usually in the playoffs you don't have the luxury of letting everybody play," Cook said. "It was nice for all the girls to be able to get in the game. They work hard in practice all the time and a lot of times they don't get to play much."

Cook figures that won't be the case the rest of the way as the Lady Indians shoot for their third straight trip to the Class 4A Final Four. Jackson finished second in the state last year and third two seasons ago.

"We shouldn't have any more games like this," he said with a grin. "From now on, as long as we're fortunate enough to keep playing, they should all be really tough, starting Saturday."