Jackson hands Donettes first home loss in almost two years

DONIPHAN — The Jackson Lady Indians were able to do something no other girls basketball team has done in almost two years — hand the Doniphan Donettes a home loss.

Jackson, the No. 6 team in Class 6, downed the fifth-ranked in Class 4 Donettes 58-54 in a battle Monday at Wright Gymnasium.

Doniphan's last home loss came Feb. 17, 2023, against South Iron.

Although Jackson managed to craft an early lead with timely shooting and open looks under the basket, the Donettes fought back in the second quarter to take a small lead that ended in a tie game at halftime.

Doniphan held a modest lead through much of the third quarter, but the Donettes struggled to score against the Lady Indians full-court pressing defense, and Jackson made the most of its free throws and scoring opportunities to pull away in the last minute of play for a close victory.

“Jackson is a really good team,” said Doniphan coach Adam Epps. “They’ve got a young group of kids that are really good. I feel like we dropped the ball defensively as a group tonight and they got in transition way too much.

“We had to get out of the press. We haven’t really had to get out of the press all year long against good teams, and we had to because they were beating us long, and we weren't rotating really well.”

For Doniphan, it was the Donettes' second loss of the season for a record of 16-2, while Jackson ran its record up to 15-1.

Carsyn Hagood led the Donettes in scoring with a game-high 28 points, while teammate Sarah Owen scored 13.

Jackson’s leading scorer was Camryn Alsdorf with 16 points, while three other Lady Indians scored in double figures.

Jackson opened the game with a 3-pointer and never trailed in the first quarter, holding a six-point lead halfway through the period. Doniphan fought back in the final minutes to draw within two at 16-14 at the end of the first.

Hagood opened the scoring in the second quarter with a triple to give Doniphan its first lead of the game. The rest of the half went back-and-forth, with Doniphan scoring two-point leads to see Jackson tie it up on their next possession.

The Lady Indians finished up the half with a pair of free throws to tie the game at 28 apiece at halftime.

Doniphan once again took the lead to start the second half, but its offense was often unable to penetrate the lane for the easy layup, and their outside shooting failed to produce enough 3-pointers to build any more than a one-possession lead.

Down three points with 3:19 left in the third, Doniphan took a 40-39 lead at 1:51 thanks to Owen’s pair of free throws. Hagood then connected on back-to-back treys to give the Donettes a 47-44 edge going into the fourth quarter.

Jackson’s defense shut down the Donettes scoring in the fourth quarter, allowing only seven points while using its foul shot advantage to score 14 in the final frame.

The score was tied at 54 with 1:46 left to play. After Jackson took a two-point lead, Doniphan failed to score on its last two possessions, while Jackson sealed the game with a breakaway layup and two more free throws with only 1.4 seconds remaining, depriving the Donettes of the chance to tie on a long 3-pointer.

Doniphan will try to bounce back this Thursday with a road game against West Plains.

“Thursday will be another really tough test for us at West Plains,” Epps said, “so we’re going to learn a little bit more about what our team is about going forward.”