Jackson Memorial and Southern Regional was one of the top games yesterday in highschool girls basketball as both teams were coming in hot. The Jaguars were on a 7 game winning streak while Southern has won 10 in a row. This was a much anticipated matchup and huge game that could have an big impact later in season. Chelsea Lavezzo and Casey Collins has been having great games lately for their respective teams but these two teams have other key players that can step up at any night. Who can keep their winning streak going and focus on the bigger goal ahead.
Jaguars got things going quick on offense with a three pointer from Avery Brooks to start this game. Both teams were playing up tempo early with a lot of foul calls. Southern and Jackson defense did a great job of forcing tough shots, creating turnovers, getting blocked shots and adjusting to the offense. The biggest key for Jackson was trying to limit Skylar Soltis who is 6'4 and a force down low when she gets close to basket. They did a great job of double teaming her and mix matching on her in first half. Southern had a 12-7 lead going into the second quarter.
Southern struggled a little bit with shooting in second quarter as Jackson picked it up on defense from Cali Brown's strong performance with stealing the ball and creating points. Jaguars did a better job of finding open shots with Chelsea Lavezzo heating up and driving to the basket. They were on a 5-0 run against Southern's defense but Jackson couldn't really extend the run even more with Southern doing a great job of keeping the score close before the break. Both teams were still driving to the basket trying to draw fouls. This game was tied at 20-20 going into halftime setting up to be a fantastic finish.
Cali Brown, Isabella Finer, Julianna Old and Avery Brooks started to step up more in second half while Southern had contributions from Brielle Romano, Samantha Russell and Skylar Soltis. The intensity picked up even more in third quarter as both teams were scoring back and forth. Jackson put up 20 points with Southern having 17 in third and the defenses on high alert. The rebounding was also a big key in second half to determine a winner. Jaguars had a 40-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter as it was completely different story for them.
Something clicked for Southern as they dominated the fourth quarter outscoring the Jaguars 14-5 and Jackson couldn't recover from it. They just had more clutch baskets towards the end, locked it ok defense and made it tough with their adjustments. Jaguars tried to hang in but wasn't enough as Southern won their 11th straight victory over Jackson 51-45 improving to 16-3 this season while Jaguars fall to 13-4. Southern's next game is tomorrow February 3rd against Hammonton at 3:15 pm eastern.
Jackson Memorial Jaguars can take this game as a positive, learn from this and get ready for their next game right away.
Leading scorers for Jackson Memorial Jaguars
Chelsea Lavezzo 19 points, 7 rebounds
Cali Brown 11 points, 2 assists
Isabella Finer 4 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist
Julianna Old 3 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist
Avery Brooks 6 points, 10 rebounds
Leading scorers for Southern Regional
Casey Collins 21 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Brielle Romano 11 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Skylar Soltis 10 points, 14 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 blocks, 2 steals
Samantha Russell 7 points
Lindsey Kelly 2 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
Photo Credit 📹 Mike Franco
Here is Southern Regional celebrating after the win against Jackson Memorial
Photo Credit 📹 Mike Franco
Photo credit 📸 Mike Franco/Franco Photography follow link below to view more photos from the game and support our photographer.
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