Jackson Memorial Jaguars girls basketball took on Woodbury yesterday afternoon at home as they were looking to stay undefeated this season while Woodbury was trying to go 500. Both teams were originally playing at 4:15 but they moved it up to 3:30 as it was a decent crowd on hand. Even though Woodbury coming into this game were at 2-3, they are still regarded as one of the toughest teams that never gives up and competes till the end. Can Woodbury hand Jaguars first loss of season or can Jackson continue the momentum. Let's find out to see what happens in this game.
The Jaguars started off this game slow in first quarter but played great defense, setting the tone for their offense as they got easy shots close to basket and three point line. Rebounds were big in the game for Jackson as they had success with that. Woodbury had trouble finding shots, were out of sync and defense was struggling during first quarter. Jackson build up momentum as this team felt confident but knew Woodbury wouldn't give up that easy. Jaguars had a 15-9 lead heading to second quarter where it changed quickly.
Woodbury took over the second and third quarter outscoring Jackson 38-26 in both with better defense, forcing turnovers, drawing fouls and finding great looks at the basket. Something clicked for them where Jackson still found shots also but their defense just looked flat in these two quarters. This game was going back and fourth with the crowd cheering, a playoff type atmosphere in second half of game. Woodbury had a 8 point lead at one point but the score was 47-41 them going into last quarter.
Then coach Rachel Goodale's adjustments for Jackson Memorial helped them get back confidence in fourth quarter as their defense started to play outstanding again. The Jaguars continued to shoot the ball well and gave up only 4 points in this quarter. Woodbury did make it interesting towards the end by tying the game at 51-51. Jackson ended up fouling them but they missed both free throws where the Jaguars got the rebound and got fouled with 1.0 left. Both free throws were made by Isabella Finer to beat Woodbury 53-51 and improving to 3-0 this season.
Players of the game and leading scorers for Jackson Memorial Jaguars
Julianna Old 17 points 18 rebounds double double
Cali Brown 14 points
Isabella Finer 10 points 5 rebounds.
Photo Credit Mike Franco
Definitely a fun game to watch!