Lisbon holds off United to stay unbeaten, 48-37

By Tom Williams

LISBON — In Monday’s battle of the Inter Tri-County League’s unbeaten girls basketball teams, the biggest weapon prevailed.

With United rallying in the fourth quarter, Lisbon junior Mindy Jackson, a 6-foot-1 post player, took charge, scoring nine of her 20 points to engineer the Blue Devils’ 48-37 victory.

Jackson, whose nickname is “Chief,” pulled down nine rebounds. Three came in the fourth quarter when the Blue Devils (8-0, 4-0 ITCL Tier One) pulled away with a 13-5 surge.

Why “Chief?”

Jackson said her freshman coach gave her that name because her dominant size reminded him of the Native American character played by Will Sampson in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

“I was the tallest and it just stuck,” Jackson said.

What does she think of the 1975 movie that won best picture and Jack Nicholson his first Oscar?

“I haven’t seen it yet,” Jackson laughed.

The Eagles (8-1, 3-1) saw plenty of Jackson down the stretch. After trailing 27-15 early in the second half, the Eagles came to life with a 9-0 run triggered by Maggie Miller’s two 3-pointers.

A pair of free throws by Joclyn Berdine to open the fourth quarter reduced Lisbon’s lead to 35-32.

Then Jackson took over, scoring three baskets and as many free throws.

“Big-time players step up in the fourth quarter when you need them to,” Lisbon coach Jamie Entriken said. “She did.”

Senior guard Megan Reynolds, who scored 18 points, agreed.

“She’s coming into her own,” Reynolds said. “When you have a tall player like that, you want to use it to your advantage.”

Reynolds called the win “a great confidence booster. We’re all turning heads. We’re playing the best defense of our lives.”

Jackson said playing the team picked by many to be the best in the league was inspiring.

“We really wanted this game,” Jackson said. “It’s big. Everyone expected us not to do [well] this year so it’s our goal as a team to show everyone that we are better than they think we are.”

The Eagles were in trouble almost immediately as the Blue Devils raced to an 11-2 lead. Reynolds scored seven of them.

“We knew we had to come out and fire away,” Jackson said of the gameplan.

United coach Roger Zeigler said, “Lisbon played a very good game. They took it to us. They played very aggressive man-to-man defense and we didn’t handle it well. That hurt us — we had 15 points at halftime.”

The game bogged down in the second quarter, with combined turnovers and missed free throws (23) outnumbering the points (16). At halftime, Lisbon led 22-15.

“[With United] being the league favorite, we felt that we really needed this game,” Entriken said. “The girls played hard. It wasn’t pretty but we knew both teams were going to be physical.”

Entriken said his team’s goal was to hold the Eagles below 40 points.

“We pride ourselves on our defense,” Entriken said. “We wanted to slow them down and give us a chance to play defense. So much of their offense comes off of their press.”

For the Devils, Katie Snoddy pulled down eight rebounds and made eight assists. Abbey Votaw had seven rebounds.

For the Eagles, Maggie Sell scored 12 points and Miller 11.

“We did a great job of coming back, getting to within three points,” Zeigler said. “But the next thing you know, it was 10 or 12 again. We didn’t get the job done.”

williams@vindy.com