The Mineola Lady Jackets had a definite plan to take on the Malakoff Lady Tigers in the district-opener: deny the talented Malakoff post, 6’2’ Hillary Dawson, the ball.

Despite their success in executing that plan, the Lady Jackets were victomized by Malakoff’s outside shooting and went down in defeat 54-32.  

For most of the first half, the job of denying Dawson fell to Mineola’s Caroline Castleberry.

The Mineola senior hounded, pressed, shadowed and harassed Dawson. Castleberry was especially effective in her job. 

Mineola ran a box and one for most of the half, with Castleberry latched onto Dawson.

In the second half, the duties of defending Dawson fell to a variety of Lady Jackets. Each held their own. 

When Dawson was able to get the ball, the Mineola defense quickly collapsed on her. 

Of course, all defensive adjustments in basketball have side effects, and last Friday in Malakoff, the collapsing defense left the Lady Tigers with too many open looks from the outside. 

Malakoff made eight 3-pointers on the night. Those timely scores had a huge effect on the flow of the game. 

The home side ended the opening quarter on an 8-point run. Mineola was down 15-5 after one quarter. 

More concerning for Mineola than defending the paint was handling the zone press of the Lady Tigers.

It was a steal and score which closed out the quarter.

The Lady Jackets played their best basketball in the second quarter.

Three-pointers by Mahayla McMahon and Jayla Jackson led the Jackets’ effort. While Mineola never actually stole the momentum, they closed the score and were down by eight points at the half, 24-16.

To take the game, the Lady Jackets needed to do three things in the second half: attack the basket, take care of the ball and out-hustle the hosts.

In their first two possessions of the second half, Malakoff poked the ball away in the defensive zone, scoring on a break, and stole a Mineola inbound pass. The two resultant scores put Malakoff up by 12 points and largely determined the outcome. 

Jaeyla Dennis came in late in the third quarter and hit two 3-pointers to give Mineola hope, but it was not enough.

Malakoff put up 20 points in the final quarter as the game got away from the Lady Jackets.

After hosting Winona, the Lady Jackets travel to Eustace on Friday, Dec. 20.

They compete in the Corsicana Tourney Dec 26-28 before recommencing district play on Jan. 3 when they host Grand Saline.