Carrying an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter, Poplar Bluff looked to be on the verge of pulling off an upset over the second-seeded Jackson Lady Indians.
Jackson, though, responded well, as it outscored the Lady Mules 20-6 in the fourth quarter to win 48-42 Tuesday, and advance to the championship game of the SEMO Conference Tournament to face top-seeded Dexter on Thursday at the Sikeston Field House.
"We allowed ourselves to get tight in an early ballgame. Second game of the year and hopefully we'll learn our lesson," Poplar Bluff coach John David Pattillo said. "We did the same thing against Sikeston the night before but we were able to hold them off."
Kalli Mayfield scored nine points in the fourth quarter -- leading all scorers in the quarter. Mik Liley led Jackson with 12 points, while Alexis Allsten added 11 of her own.
On the other side, Kiley Bess scored 23 to lead all scorers, but couldn't get any help in the fourth quarter. She scored all six points for Poplar Bluff in the period.
It was the second poor fourth quarter to start the season for the Mules, who held off Sikeston in the opening round.
"To watch us kind of give into the pressure late, that is the area we are really going to focus on," Pattillo said. "Six out of eight quarters we have played really good basketball."
As Jackson added pressure on the Mules, Pattillo added they relied too much on Bess, who reached 1,000 points in fewer games than Tyler Hansbrough.
"We've got girls who are playing pretty good right now. Getting that late game experience and executing in the fourth quarter is going to be the biggest thing we focus on here in the next few weeks," Pattillo said.