By TODD TRAUB
Leader sports editor
Jonesboro coach Jodi Davis had nothing but respect for Jacksonville’s effort Tuesday night.
But she still didn’t want to become the Lady Red Devils’ first conference victim, and thanks to Whitney Keith’s shooting and Tameka Scott’s ball handling, Davis got her wish as Jonesboro outpaced Jacksonville 49-40 in 6A-East girls action at the Devils Den.
“They have fought and bitten and clawed their way to try to win tonight and they nearly got it from us,” Davis said. “It’s all credit to them.”
Keith scored 25 points, hitting four three-pointers, and Scott withstood Jacksonville’s defensive pressure well enough to earn her coach’s praise.
“She handled the pressure unbelievably,” Davis said. “It looked like she would turn the ball over left and right but when you look at it, the way that she played tonight — two and three people on you —you can’t see, it’s hard to do something with it.
“So most of that credit goes to her for keeping her head and keeping her composure.”
“No 12 is hard to get the ball away from,” Jacksonville coach Katrina Mimms said. “Extremely hard to get the ball away from. We created some, we caused some problems for her, and if you can cause some problems for her, she’s about the best point guard there is.”
Jacksonville, winless in 10 conference games and 7-17 overall, stayed with Jonesboro most of the game and fought back from a 42-32 fourth-quarter deficit to get within 46-40 when sophomore standout Jessica Jackson hit a three-pointer that barely rippled the net with 2:11 left.
But Jonesboro slowed things down and made 3 of 5 free throws over the final 1:17 while Jackson missed two and had a three-point attempt go in and out.
“We’re not taking the shots we need to take,” Mimms said.
“If you’ve got a post player open give it to the post. You get a cutter off of her and maybe you get it back or something. We’re one pass, trying to create on our own instead of using each other.”
Keith paced the Lady Hurricane with 20 first-half points as Jonesboro (14-9, 7-4) took a 24-18 halftime lead.
“We’re getting shots from everywhere and usually that is a position that does it if it’s not inside,” Davis said. “Just running our regular stuff and I give them freedom in our freelance offense. It just gives them the freedom to create.”
Jacksonville kept up the defensive pressure, forcing turnovers and keeping the game within reach.
“I thought our defense played way better than it did last night,” Mimms said, referring to Monday’s 57-27 loss at Little Rock Hall. “We had some life in us.”
Scott gave the Lady Hurricane one of its biggest leads, 40-31, when she made 2 of 3 free throws after Chyna Davis fouled her as Scott attempted a desperation three-pointer from the left corner as time ran out in the third quarter.
Leah Hill improved the lead to 42-31, the biggest of the game, with a short hook shot with 7:15 left, but Jacksonville outscored Jonesboro 9-4 from that point to cut it to 46-40.
Chelsea Tate scored all four points for Jonesboro during the stretch.
Davis made a pair of free throws for Jacksonville, Jackson banked one in and made a free throw and Jennifer Ballard added a basket followed by Jackson’s three-pointer that closed out the run.
With the 46-40 lead, Davis let her players know they didn’t have to shoot, then called two timeouts only to watch in frustration as the Lady Hurricane committed a turnover after the second timeout.
With Jacksonville handing out fouls trying to get Jonesboro to the free-throw line, Scott made one free throw and Tate added two with 3.7 seconds left to cap the scoring.
Tate finished with eight points for Jonesboro while Jackson led Jacksonville with 11.
