The Mineola Lady Jackets post-season got a whole lot more challenging after they fell to Mount Pleasant Chapel Hill in a seeding playoff Friday at Quitman. The 40-37 loss placed the Lady Jackets in the fourth place of District 13-3A and lined them up for a clash with the District 14-3A champion (and state-ranked) Hooks Lady Hornets. 

The play-in game was set up by a 48-33 victory by Mineola at home Feb. 6 which tied the two teams for third place in the district with 7-5 records. The two teams split the season series, each winning at home.

The Chapel Hill side made it very clear exactly how they would attack Mineola this time around. 

In the opening quarter, the Lady Devils repeatedly passed the ball into the post. A tight Mineola man-to-man defense forced some ingenuity in making those passes, but Chapel Hill clearly had worked hard to be able to get the ball in low. In that first quarter Chapel Hill attempted just one jump shot; all of their other possessions were passes into the low post.

In very deliberate action by both offenses, Chapel Hill got the jump on the Lady Jackets and held an 11-5 lead after one quarter.

In the second quarter, the game shifted with Mineola trying to get the ball inside and Chapel Hill beginning to drive the basket. It was a stalemate, with the Lady Devils retaining a 5-point lead until 3 minutes remained in the half.

In a flurry of action before the half, Mineola’s Jaeyla Dennis had a dream sequence. She sank three foul shots, hit a long 3-pointer and stole the ball on consecutive Chapel Hill possessions. An inside bucket by Mahayla McMahon added to the Mineola rally. 

As the half sounded, Mineola had a 21-18 lead and all the momentum. 

They retained that momentum into the third quarter. McMahon scored on a length-of-the-court drive after a steal, Kali Chrietzberg – who played her best game of the season – scored with a beautiful left-handed, driving lay-in over a Chapel Hill defender, and McMahon scored inside on a perfect assist from Kyra Jackson.

However, the Lady Devils turned the game in the last three minutes of the third quarter by going back to their formula of getting the ball inside to their larger posts. Chapel Hill ended the third on a nine-point run. 

The quarter featured one of the most confusing sequences ever witnessed in scholastic basketball. The sequence featured several impacts which could have been whistled, a force-out along the in-line, a wild scramble for the ball and eventually was deemed a back-court violation against Mineola. Mineola stole the ball on the inbound, but it was stolen back by Chapel Hill which logged the last points of the quarter.

The Lady Devils opened a 10-point lead, as they began to sense an impending win, and the Lady Jackets shooting stayed ice cold. Events down the stretch had to go the right way for Mineola in order to overcome that deficit in the last three minutes. 

Unfortunately, they didn’t. The Lady Jackets had a number of one-shot possessions which ended up killing time. A 3-pointer by Jayla Jackson with 1:28 on the clock and another by Chrietzberg with 1:13 to play brought the Lady Jackets close, but it wasn’t enough. 

Chapel Hill held on for a 3-point win.