By GRAHAM POWELL
Leader sportswriter
The Jacksonville girls trailed by five points at halftime of Tuesday’s 5A-Central Conference opener against winless J.A. Fair, but the Lady Red Devils came alive in the second half and left the Devils’ Den with a 60-40 win over the Lady War Eagles.
Jacksonville (7-8, 1-0) led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter, but had seven turnovers in the second quarter alone. Three of those turnovers were on steals by Fair point guard Jabreonia Veasey, who led the Lady War Eagles (0-12, 0-1) with 14 points – all of which came in the first half.
Turnovers hurt the Lady Red Devils in the first two quarters, and Jacksonville coach Crystal Scott said the reason for some of those turnovers is because the team is having to play some inexperienced players at point guard, due to injuries on Scott’s nine-player team.
“I’ve got some inexperienced kids who are playing point,” said Scott. “The kids with experience at the position, both of them are hurt. Alexis James is playing on a bummed knee.”
James played Tuesday, but with a large knee brace and isn’t 100 percent.
“She just kind of sucked it up,” The Jacksonville girls trailed by five points at halftime of Tuesday’s 5A-Central Conference opener against winless J.A. Fair, but the Lady Red Devils came alive in the second half and left the Devils’ Den with a 60-40 win over the Lady War Eagles.
Jacksonville (7-8, 1-0) led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter, but had seven turnovers in the second quarter alone. Three of those turnovers were on steals by Fair point guard Jabreonia Veasey, who led the Lady War Eagles (0-12, 0-1) with 14 points – all of which came in the first half.
Turnovers hurt the Lady Red Devils in the first two quarters, and Jacksonville coach Crystal Scott said the reason for some of those turnovers is because the team is having to play some inexperienced players at point guard, due to injuries on Scott’s nine-player team.
“I’ve got some inexperienced kids who are playing point,” said Scott. “The kids with experience at the position, both of them are hurt. Alexis James is playing on a bummed knee.”
James played Tuesday, but with a large knee brace and isn’t 100 percent.
“She just kind of sucked it up,” Scott said of James, “which is what she’s going to have to do for the next couple of weeks. We really need to be in a position where we can rest her, but we can’t, because our other point guard (Josie Starr) is out with an ankle injury.”
Fair led 28-23 at halftime, and scored the first basket of the second half to lead 30-23. Jacksonville upped its aggressiveness in the final two quarters. The Lady Red Devils took their first lead of the third quarter on a running floater off the glass by Desiree Williams with 3:10 to go in the quarter, which made the score 33-32.
Jacksonville upped its lead to 38-34 by the end of the quarter. Veasey fouled out with 6:37 left in the fourth quarter with Jacksonville leading 40-34. Veasey didn’t score in the second half, and the Lady War Eagles didn’t get much offensive production from anyone else.
Fair was held to six points in each of the last two quarters, and committed 16 turnovers in the second half. Nine of those turnovers were Jacksonville steals. Jacksonville had just five turnovers in the second half after committing 12 in the first half.
With 4:22 to go in the fourth, Jacksonville’s lead grew to 47-37 on back-to-back steals and layups by Emily Lovercheck and Nastassia Williams. Lovercheck set the final score with a corner 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to play.
The Lady Devils finished the game 22 for 69 from the floor for 32 percent. Fair was 15 for 52 from the floor for 29 percent. From the free-throw line, Jacksonville was 14 for 32 and Fair was 9 for 20. Jacksonville outrebounded Fair 43-31.
“A win’s a win,” Scott said. “You’ve got to take them anyway you can get them.”
Veasey’s 14 points led all scorers and she was the only Fair player to score in double figures. Three different Lady Devils scored in double figures. Desiree Williams led the way with 13 points. Lovercheck scored 12 and Nastassia Williams scored 11. Taylor Toombs led Jacksonville with 11 rebounds.
Jacksonville played another 5A-Central game at crosstown rival North Pulaski last night after deadlines. Look for details of that game in Wednesday’s edition of The Leader.
