Jackson’s girls basketball team tipped off the season against Farmington last Tuesday night on the road, coming away with a 26-point win.
Three players scored in double digits for the Indians (1-0) to defeat the Knights (0-1) 57-31.
Leading Jackson in scoring was none other than senior guard Kalli Mayfield with 15 points, who finished the game 7-for-13 shooting. Mayfield led the Indians in scoring last season with 13.8 points a game.
Sophomore forward Madison Lambert and senior forward Mikala “Mik” Liley paced Mayfield with a combined total of 23 points, scoring 12 and 11 respectively.
The Indians recorded a total of 31 rebounds against Farmington, 19 defensive and 12 offensive. Senior center Alexis Allstun hauled in a team-high 11 boards as Mayfield was behind her with six while Liley came away with four. Allstun also led the team in takeaways with four steals and scored nine points.
Much of Jackson’s scoring came off assists as the Indians had 14 in the game with Liley producing six. Mayfield also shared the ball throughout the night with four assists, tied for second with freshman guard Jordyn McClellan.
Along with her four assists, McClellan scored five points and recorded two rebounds and two steals in her first-ever high school game.
Jackson now has its eyes set on winning the third annual SEMO Conference Tournament, which started on Monday and is being hosted at Sikeston.
The Indians have been seeded third overall and played No. 7 seed Cape Central to start tournament play. Jackson defeated Central handedly 66-30.
With the win, Jackson will now face No. 3 Poplar Bluff in the semifinals. The championship game will be played tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m.
Reigning conference tournament champions Dexter is the No. 1 seed and started the tournament by defeating No. 8 Kennett 72-15.
Saxony Lutheran, which fell to Dexter in last year’s title game, was seeded fourth overall and started tournament play against No. 5 Cape Notre Dame, defeating the Bulldogs 53-47.
After winning the inaugural conference tournament in 2016, the Indians fell to Dexter in the semifinals 53-22 and finally defeated Notre Dame 38-36 in the third-place game last year.
