Only one word accurately describes the Mineola Lady Jackets area basketball championship win over the Liberty-Eylau Lady Leopards – impassioned.

It was more than focus and more than hustle that saw Mineola through to a 63-48 win Friday in Mt. Vernon. In short it was the best basketball played by a Mineola team in recent memory.

The immediate question for Mineola fans is can the Lady Jackets rally to put forth another such performance? Everyone knows that the largest step in the UIL post-season tourney is likely the upcoming third round. 

Before addressing that issue, the game last Friday deserves some recognition. 

There was no warm-up time in the first quarter – no time to take one’s measure of the opposition. The game started like a track meet as both squads sprinted through the entire eight minutes. 

Liberty-Eylau went to the break leading 11-10.

The Lady Jackets had forced seven Leopard turnovers in that opening quarter and certainly unsettled the opposition. Offensively, Mineola focused on one thing – driving the ball to the basket.

The Jackets didn’t just drive the basket when there was an open lane, they also forced contact and tried to exploit the narrowest seam in the defense. 

It worked to great effectiveness, and in the long run, took a physical and psychological toll on Liberty-Eylau.   

Mineola started the second quarter on an 8-point run. A nicely executed in-and-out game between Sophia Hogue and Mahayla McMahon resulted in McMahon hitting a 3-pointer. Jayla Jackson followed with a shot from beyond the arc and Kyra Jackson hit a short jumper in the lane. 

Mineola shot-making forced Liberty-Eylau out of their zone defense and back into the exhausting man-to-man with which they started the game. 

The Lady Jackets never hesitated in attacking. They outscored the Leopards by 16 points in the second quarter. A keen shooting eye and their determined drive to the basket swung the game in their favor. 

Controlled aggression would best describe Mineola’s efforts through the first half. 

Liberty-Eylau’s push to even-out the game was anticipated but – thanks to the Lady Jacket’s composure – short-lived. The third quarter was a scratch with each side tallying 15 points. 

Two second-half sequences deserve to be on a highlight reel or an instructional video somewhere. 

The first occurred late in the third quarter. Two consecutive scores had closed the margin to 13 points. The Leopards were rallying.

While setting a perimeter screen, Caroline Castleberry was absolutely leveled by a defender. She went to the line where she missed both free throws. However, she fought her way through the crowd to coral her own rebound. She got the ball out to Kyra Jackson on the arc who sunk a 3-pointer. It was a critical point in the game and indicative of the Lady Jacket’s will. 

The second sequence is something rarely seen in scholastic basketball. Mineola hauled down a defensive rebound early in the fourth quarter.  Two Lady Leopards prevented an outlet pass down court, so the ball was passed back along the baseline. The next pass went immediately to a teammate at half court, who turned and rifled a pass further down to the corner. No sooner was that pass handled than the ball was whipped cross court to a waiting Jayla Jackson. She scored. From rebound at one end to lay-in at the other, the ball never touched the floor.

There were many notable performances last Friday (Jayla Jackson finished with 21 points; McMahon dominated most of the inside play; Chrietzberg exemplified the fiery spirit of the team) but it was above all else the like-minded determination of the whole squad which saw them through.  

Mineola continued its season in a regional semifinal game against Winnsboro Monday. (See related story)