The Mineola Lady Jackets were on the road Jan. 2 to Mount Vernon and went down in defeat to the home team, 44-39, in a tightly-played game. 

The Lady Jackets came out with a sense of purpose in the first quarter. Back-to-back steals by Jayden Gardner and Tahjae Black and a beautiful scoring sequence from Macy Fischer to Jocelyn Whitehead to Black highlighted the opening stanza.

In a very closely-called game, the action swung back and forth. Mount Vernon managed a 5-point run late in the second quarter and took a 22-16 lead into the half. 

The Jackets emerged from the break with renewed vigor. Whitehead put in a follow-up after consecutively capturing two offensive rebounds to open the scoring. Black gave a great effort in the third quarter by forcefully taking away a rebound and scoring twice with drives in the lane. Gardner hit a short jumper after a strong move to the basket.

The game turned on Mount Vernon’s third quarter scoring. They rallied to outscore Mineola 13-6 in the quarter.

The biggest Lady Jacket push came early in the final stanza. They began the action by securing four rebounds, chasing down a loose ball and saving a turnover from going out of play. Two quick scores closed the margin to six points.

Following a Mineola time out midway through the quarter, the Lady Jacket press worked just as it was drawn up. Steals by Mylee Fischer, Kapri Riley and Macey Fischer led directly to scores. It was a 1-point game with 2:00 on the clock, 40-39. 

The Lady Tigers closed out the game by retaining possession and sinking four free throws to record the win. 

Turnovers in the offensive zone continued to plague the Lady Jackets. On the positive side, Mineola began to accept those short jump shots which result from a driving offense. Correcting the turnovers in the zone and taking those jump shots will certainly be high on the Lady Jackets’ list as they travel to Harmony, Friday, for their next district match-up.