CEDAR HILL, Mo. -- Kiley Bess crashed to the court in the opening minutes of the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 championship game, the Poplar Bluff sophomore landing hard on her back.
After slowly getting on her feet, Bess stayed in the game but it would be another 9 1/2 minutes before scoring her first points. By then, the Mules were down double digits after Jackson scored 18 straight points.
Bess and the Mules never fully recovered from the rough start, losing 48-32 to the Indians at Northwest High School.
Poplar Bluff ended its season 16-11, the program's first winning year since 2014, but lost to Jackson in the district final for a second straight year.
After suffering an ankle injury early in the championship game last year against Jackson, Bess finished Thursday night with 12 points, 10 below her nightly average.
"I'm sure she was a little timid going back into that, but you know, she battled," Mules coach John David Pattillo said.
Jackson (21-6), the ninth-ranked team in Class 5 of the state coaches poll, will face Hazelwood Central (20-6) in the opening round of the state playoffs Wednesday.
It was the final game for Poplar Bluff seniors Doni Everts and Shelby Sievers.
"They just stopped us," said Everts who scored 12 points and ended with 712 for her career.
The Mules scored a season-low 32 points, 21 under their season average, as Jackson's stingy defense held Poplar Bluff to 35.3 percent shooting from the field and forced 22 turnovers.
"That's been our nemesis," Pattillo said of turnovers. "That's something that hurts at times this year.
"It magnifies because Jackson is a really good defensive team."
Jackson, which came in holding opponents to an average of 34.6 points per game, used a zone defense to pack the middle of the floor and also caused turnovers with a full-court press at times.
"We couldn't get that zone spread enough," said Pattillo who added that he expected to see a man defense from the Indians.
Poplar Bluff scored the first four points of the game but Jackson countered with the next 18 and never trailed again, holding off every comeback attempt by the Mules.
"I thought we handled the runs well,"Jackson coach Tyler Abernathy said. "When we got the lead we never gave it back up. I thought that was key,"
Kalli Mayfield scored 21 points to lead the Indians, including seven during the first-half run.
Jackson didn't get on the board until the 4:15 mark when Mah Massey split two foul shots. Madison Lambert's only basket was a game-tying 3-pointer with 2:50 left in the quarter and Massey followed with a jumper for a 6-4 lead.
Mayfield got a putback and later got a steal and layin as Jackson took a 10-4 lead into the second. Emma Masterson sank a 3-pointer and Mayfield followed a Poplar Bluff turnover with a three-point play. Mik Liley's fastbreak laying pushed the lead to 18-4 after a steal by Lambert.
Katie Pattillo ended Poplar Bluff's scoring drought after seven minutes with a 3-pointer off an inbound pass.
"That was nice. That was big because we struggled early," Abernathy said. "You could feel. We struggled late last time we played them."
Poplar Bluff rallied to win the regular-season meeting 43-39, outscoring the Indians 13-2 in the final quarter.
"If we don't make a run it starts to creep in your mind, you could see that happening," Abernathy said. "It was big there. Real big."
The Mules rallied over the final 5:47 of the half to get within 23-17 at the break.
Sievers knocked down a shot to cut Jackson's lead to four but the Mules missed two shots to get closer. Everts, who scored 12 points, later cut Jackson's lead to 25-21 but the Indians slowly pulled away.
Liley got a putback and Masterson followed with a steal leading to Mayfield's three-point play. Massey caught a tipped pass for a steal and Masterson scored on the other end for a 33-21 lead.
Again the Mules rallied with seven straight points and trailed 33-28 to start the fourth quarter.
Liley scored off a pass from Massey and Pehle got a basket in transition to push the lead to nine. Mayfield later scored for a 39-29 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left.
The Mules, however, never got closer than eight.
"We didn't set it up with a ball fake then (pass or shoot)," Everts said of the offensive struggles. "Coach was yelling that on the side. Maybe we should have listened to coach."
Jackson improved to 14-5 against Poplar Bluff with a district title on the line, winning for a fourth straight time, but the Mules lead the all-time series 42-41.
Bess ended the season with a team-record 191 free throws, sinking 77 percent of her attempts, and also set the single-game scoring mark with a 50-point performance at Sikeston. Both records had stood since the early 1990s.
"Our idea was to keep it as tight as we could and then just contest everything," Abernathy said of slowing Bess. "If you just hang out with Bess the whole time those other girls are more than good enough to beat you."