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In an SEOAL makeup game at Ironton tonight, the Jackson Ironladies upset Ironton Fighting Tigers 48-44!

The Ironton loss, I do believe, clinches the SEOAL title for the Tigers of Marietta.

Meredith Harless hit a three to put Jackson ahead 46-44, then Kelsey Martin made two FTs for 48-44 final.

Huge win for the Ironladies!!!!!!!

Wow, great win for the Ironladies.

any other stats keyser?

points, rebounds, assists, steals?

This has to be one of the biggest upsets of the year in southeastern Ohio. Did all the Ironton starters play? Congrats to the Jackson Ironladies!

I watched Jackson in their first game against Logan and after it was over I knew this team would knock someone off. A young team that should be heard from next year.

nice job ironladies!

wow! great job ironladies!

My take from the cheap seats....
Jackson wanted it more,Ironton had NO fire about them.
Jackson was hitting the threes at Im sure an above average clip.
Ironton looked slow,very slow.Way too much walking around.
Ironton turned the ball over way too much.Its too late in the year to be lazy with passes or to bounce pass at someones feet.
Ironton Seniors need to step up and show some leadership,its your last year play like its your last game because trust me when its all over you will miss it.
Again Jackson wanted it more,congrats.


To Ironton you better wake up.

Congrats Jackson!!!

Great Game Ironladies! Keep it going.

How can you have only 1 assist? Is that correct. Is a pass that leads directly to a 3 pointer not an assist? Hard to believe that number is correct.

Ironman92 wrote:How can you have only 1 assist? Is that correct. Is a pass that leads directly to a 3 pointer not an assist? Hard to believe that number is correct.

Yes I was just trying to post something about that as well, but something went wrong and it disappeared! Almost all other phases of the game were about even. The difference was the 9-0 in treys and the 45% on treys. What did Ironton do, just let the trey shooters dribble down and put them up, at least the trey attempts that went in!

Jackson doesn't really have possessions where someone dribbles down and fires up a 3.....often on a fast break a wing player will fill around the 3 point arc......but that would be an assist?


Maybe I just don't know what an assist is.

Great win for the Ironladies. Congrats!

The definition of an assist is "any pass which directly leads to a basket."

Very broad definition, and I deem myself overly liberal in keeping assists in stats. Not all stat keepers share the same view.

And, with an assist to Jim Walker for this report, here is the report which appeared in Tuesday's Times-Journal.

Enjoy




Caging the Tigers: Ironladies upset Ironton

By PAUL BOGGS

Sports Editor

IRONTON — The Jackson High School girls basketball team took a page out of the New Orleans Saints’ playbook on Monday night, and sprung an upset on the Ironton Fighting Tigers that turned a few heads throughout Southeastern Ohio.

Bolstered by blazing the nets for nine three-point goals, the Ironladies captured a 48-44 upset triumph over the host Fighting Tigers in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League makeup matchup.

“A win like this is a great confidence booster for the girls,” said Jackson coach Jay Martin. “We expected to go down there and give them a good game. But we played well for all four quarters for maybe the first time all year. You see the results. We got down, we didn’t panic. We got a lead, they came back, we didn’t panic. Everybody did their part tonight on defense, and when we needed baskets, whether it was a three or a transition basket or a free throw down the stretch, we got it. This is the way we’re capable of playing.”

With the win, which was Jackson’s seventh in its last nine games, the Ironladies ensured themselves of a winning season for the first time since the 2005-06 campaign and improved to 11-6.

They raised their league record to 5-6, and wrapped up the SEOAL championship for Marietta — thanks to the Ironton loss.

The disappointing defeat for the Fighting Tigers — the same Ironton team which nearly knocked off undefeated Oak Hill 46-44 on Jan. 2 — drops them to 12-6 overall and 8-4 in theSEOAL.

Jackson also avenged a 52-43 setback against Ironton on Dec. 9, which was its first home game of the season.

The Ironladies enjoyed nine straight home games from Dec. 30 thru last Monday, before seeing their five-game win streak snapped at Gallipolis on Wednesday.

But the Red and White relished the role of underdog against Ironton, and scored 27 of its 48 points off three-point goals compared to not a singletrifecta for the Tigers.

Jackson launched 20 attempts from three-point territory — four times as many as Ironton.

“Nine threes for us obviously made a huge difference in the game,” said Martin. “But we shot with confidence, we took good shots and we were hitting them. It wasn’t like we were just throwing threes up there. We were patient on offense, we tried worked the ball around, looked for the open shot and got them to fall.”

The biggest three-point basket perhaps came courtesy of sophomore Meredith Harless, who hit the go-ahead three with 1:43 remaining, giving theIronladies the lead for good at 46-44.

But senior Kelsey Martin, who poured in a game-high 20 points including four threes, nailed her final triple to trim a four-point deficit of 44-40 to one.

Martin then made two crucial free throws with 17 seconds showing, giving Jackson a four-point lead of its own at 48-44.

Martin’s two makes came on the heels of two misses by Ironton’s Lorna Caesar, which could have tied the game at 46-46.

Instead of a tie, the Fighting Tigers were forced to foul and — after Martin made both shots for the four-point edge — hurried into their offense.

But the possession resulted in a turnover, and sealed the Ironlady upset.

“It was a total team effort to get this victory,” said Coach Martin.

The win was arguably Coach Martin’s biggest in his three seasons as the Jackson head coach.

Last year, Jackson upset Fairfield Union in the Division II sectional semifinals.

Against Ironton in the first meeting, the Ironladies outscored the Orange and Black following the first four minutes, but only after the Tigers tallied the first 13 points of the game.

Each time Jackson trailed on Monday, the Ironladies rallied to surge into the lead.

Case in point with the 44-40 deficit, as Jackson trailed by other margins of 7-2, 29-25 and 38-34 before erasing them and charging ahead.

Jessica Webb’s three trimmed Ironton’s advantage to 12-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Martin made her first two threes, Harless hit her first of two, and Kennedy Shasteen sank a 17-footer to all of the sudden give theIronladies a 22-14 lead halfway through the period.

Ironton answered with eight unanswered to tie it at 22-22, as Martin and Alex Taylor traded a pair of free throws for a 24-24 halftime tie.

While early league losses at Logan (47-41 in overtime) and Warren (49-45) wound up escaping the jaws of victory, the Ironladies did not let Monday’s cushion completely slip away.

Answering a 29-25 Ironton edge in the third, Jackson junior Emileigh Cooper canned a pair of treys to put the Ironladies right back in front at the 4:15 mark.

Ironton tied the game three more times in the frame, including 34-34 at the stop, before finally going back ahead 38-34 on two free throws by Taylor and a layup by Caesar.

But Harless hit from 17 feet, and Martin banked in a three from the top of the key to land the Ironladies right back in front.

Martin and Harless then combined to erase the final four-point deficit at the 1:43 mark.

Harless had eight points to follow Martin, who also made 8-of-14 free throws, part of a team 11-of-19.

Nicole Chapman chipped in two field goals and 2-of-2 freebies for six, tying Cooper in points.

In addition to the trey by Webb and deuce by Shasteen, a field goal by Kari Jenkins and a free throw from Mallory Geiger rounded out the Red and White scoring.

Jackson shot 33-percent (14-of-42) for the game, which was aided by the 45-percent shooting from three-point range.

Ironton made 38.5-percent (15-of-39) of its total shots, but did not connect on any of its five three-pointers.

The Fighting Tigers also hurt themselves from the free-throw line, shooting just 56-percent on 14-on-25.

Caesar’s five field goals and 5-of-11 free throws paced Ironton with 15 points, followed by six field goals toward 13 points from Elswick.

Both Fighting Tigers tallied seven rebounds, as Geiger grabbed 10 to lead all participants.

In the second half, only Elswick, Taylor and Caesar scored for Ironton.

Brea Tackett, who torched the Ironladies for a game-high 23 points in the first meeting, was stymied to two first-half field goals for four points.

“We didn’t play very hard all night. We were expecting an easy game and we didn’t take it seriously,” Ironton coach Doug Graham told The Ironton Tribune. “Jackson outhustled us the whole game. They wanted it more than we did. They were the better team tonight.”

Elswick added two blocked shots and three steals for the Fighting Tigers, while Cooper collected four steals for the Ironladies.

Each team tallied nine takeaways and were guilty of 19 turnovers.

The Ironladies return to the road, and return to SEOAL makeup action, on Wednesday at Chillicothe and Thursday at Marietta.

Saturday’s matinee against Chillicothe marks the regular-season and league finale, as well as Senior Day for the Ironladies, as Martin, Geiger and Mariah Harless will be honored in pregame activities.

The reserve game begins on Saturday at noon.

Thanks for that report by Boggs. Seems like an exciting game from start to finish and the most memorable game of the season so far for Jackson. The trey to give the Ironladies the lead for good was very noteworthy, but I'd say the one to cut it to 44-43 was the most critical! That basket shrinks up when you are behind by that much as the game winds down.

Keyser_soze78 wrote:In an SEOAL makeup game at Ironton tonight, the Jackson Ironladies upset Ironton Fighting Tigers 48-44!

The Ironton loss, I do believe, clinches the SEOAL title for the Tigers of Marietta.

Meredith Harless hit a three to put Jackson ahead 46-44, then Kelsey Martin made two FTs for 48-44 final.

Huge win for the Ironladies!!!!!!!

Congrats to the Ironladies!

The sweet taste of revenge and a tremendous momentum builder heading into the one and done portion of the season.

Good job ladies and keep up the winning ways.

Meredith "Bully" Harless is my niece and Kelsea Martin is my cousin. Keep up the hard work and once again, Congrats from Puyallup, Washington.

Good job Coach Martin!

Your relatives Moriah and Sarah also contribute many minutes on the varsity squad....and your sister makes the best popcorn.