Top-seeded Jackson girls basketball opens C6D1 play with quarterfinal rout over Mehlville

Opening its postseason on the highest of highs, Jackson girls basketball placed a punishing blow upon Mehlville on Thursday night. Winning 74-13, the top-seeded Indians solidified their win with a magnificent defensive performance and an offense to match.

It didn’t take long before Jackson rotated in the deep bench it so proudly touts, and the fourth was contested solely by the rotation as the Indians powered their way to a fierce Class 6 District 1-opening victory over Mehlville to make it 16 wins in a row.

Now, they’re headed back to the district semifinals with a matchup against one of their fiercest rivals on the horizon and the team is humming at a rate unprecedented in program history.

For the second-year Jackson coach, however, the focus is on the task at hand and the ongoing campaign through the treacherous road of the Class 6 postseason.

“It always feels good knowing that you guys are together again tomorrow for practice,” Indians coach Angela Fulton began. “It always feels good to win, especially at a time like this.”

The stat of the night: The Indians allowed just 7 points in the first half defensively, put in the rotation and somehow allowed even less in the second half at just 6 points. That intensity, versus the No. 8 seed or not, is a sign of great cohesiveness at the perfect time.

Leading the Indians in scoring, a rare sight, was freshman Lauren Dorey with a 15-point outburst to command the Indians to victory on seven 2-point makes and an and-1 conversion in the second quarter.

Kate Deck and Addison Henderson, two more freshmen, put up double digits with 10 points each as Deck, heir apparent to the Deck legacy but already forging her own path, drilled two 3-pointers.

Punching their ticket to the district semifinals against Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon, the freshmen even got the chance to take a load off in the fourth quarter as their effort was enough, and then some, to secure a running clock and a stress-free, playoff-opening victory.

“It’s great,” Fulton said. “We have enough depth that at any given point, we can throw anybody in and not really lose a beat at all.

“We are young, so it’s nice to get everybody experience in the postseason. This time of year, it’s a different feeling when you walk in the gym.”

That feeling won’t disappear any time soon, especially when the squad that’s plagued the dreams of Jackson fans for years is waiting for the Indians in the district semifinals.

Kirk Boeller’s Notre Dame Bulldogs, sitting below the .500 mark this late in the season for the first time in seven years, are primed and waiting for the top-seeded rival Indians in the semifinal stage having already lost twice to them this season.

Though the last two matchups have been anything but a mixed bag, there’s always a glimmer of hope as the two squads head north to Lindbergh High School for a winner-take-all semifinal clash with a spot in the championship on the line.

“Notre Dame is a great team,” Fulton said. “We're going to have to do a lot of things. We just saw them on Monday.

“There were a couple of things that we knew we had to work on after that game, just going into the postseason, so we're going to continue to stay focused.”