Lady 'Cats drop conference opener to Lady Indians

Dru Haertling scored a game-high 25 points to help lead Jackson to a 45-38 win over the Dexter Lady Bearcats in a pivotal early-season meeting of two of the SEMO Conference's top teams Tuesday night at the Bearcat Event Center.

Haertling scored 19 of her 25 points in the second half. The 5-foot-9 senior was also 11-of-11 from the free throw line, six of those coming in the final minutes of the game to help the Lady Indians hold off a late push by the Lady Bearcats.

Jackson finished the night 16-of-21 from the free throw line while Dexter was 8-of-10.

The game was tightly contested from the opening tip. Dexter trailed 12-10 after the first quarter, but stepped up the defensive effort in the second to take a 23-20 lead at the half. Jackson came out playing aggressive defense in the second and held Dexter to just five points to take a 31-28 lead into the fourth quarter.

Katelynn Fraziers' steal and assist to Hannah Noe was followed by a Jackson turnover and long jumper by Paige Patterson to push the Lady 'Cats out front, 32-31 early in the fourth quarter.

Jackson tied the game on a free throw by Emily Davidson and the Lady Indians regained the led, 35-32 on a 3-pointer by Haertling.

Dexter cut the deficit to one point (35-34) on a nice assist from Mollie Whitehead to Erika Cobb, who scored inside with less than three minutes remaining. Jackson finished the game without a basket but was able to seal the win by hitting 9-of-12 from the charity strip down the stretch.

"I definitely hate to lose but I thought our girls played a much better game than they did against Miller (Career Academy)," Dexter head coach Chad Allen said after the game. "Jackson compares to Miller a little bit because they are big and physical. I thought we handled that part of the game for the most part pretty well.

"Offensively I thought we did well early," he continued. "Late in the game we just couldn't get anything going offensively. Defensively I thought we did a much better job tonight. I know Haertling scored quite a few points and she's definitely a great player. Her and (Conner) King are both going to Southeast Missouri State (on athletic scholarships) so both are going D-1.

"For the most part I thought we did a great job against King," Allen added. "I thought our post players did an extremely good job. Paige (Patterson) did an unbelievable job on her. But like I told the girls, we've just got to learn form our mistakes and keep getting better."

Patterson and Brittany Harris combined to limit the 6-foot-2 King to just seven points.

Offensively Dexter didn't have a player in double figures. Noe scored nine coming off the bench, while Harris and Patterson finished with eight and nine points, respectively.

Dexter normally has a solid inside-outside game, but the Lady 'Cats could only manage to hit 2-of-17 from behind the 3-point line on this night.

"Jackson did a good job defensively inside against our post," Allen admitted. "And like I said, we just missed a lot of our perimeter shots. If they are falling we probably win the game. Really, offensively we just couldn't get anything going towards the end of the game."

The loss leaves Dexter, 3-2 overall and now 0-1 in the SEMO Conference, looking for help if they are going to have a shot at winning the league crown

"We've got to have some help now," Allen commented. "Last year we got to the point where if we beat Poplar bluff we would have had a three-way tie, so we definitely need some help if we are going to win the conference. But I'll tell you, our conference is tough. It's extremely hard to go undefeated, so I'm sure somebody might beat Jackson. Who knows. But it is extremely hard to go undefeated.

Dexter also dropped the junior varsity game to Jackson, 34-24.

Dexter will next be in action Thursday when the Lady 'Cats will travel to New Madrid for another conference game against the Lady Eagles. Tip for the JV game is set for 6 p.m.