Washington freshman Iyanna Brown deflects the ball from a Jackson player during a Frontier Athletic Conference game at Washington High School Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. Also pictured for Washington is senior Kaithlyn Maquiling and sophomore Eliana Racine.
The Jackson Ironladies made the trip up to Washington Court House on a cold winter’s night for a Frontier Athletic Conference game against the Lady Lions Wednesday, Jan. 17.
After securing at least a co-championship with their previous conference victory (55-31 against Hillsboro on Jan. 13), Jackson was looking for the win that would lock up a third consecutive outright FAC title.
Jackson found what they were looking for in a 56-42 victory over Washington.
Jackson is now 8-0 in the FAC, 12-2 overall.
In other FAC games Wednesday, Hillsboro defeated Miami Trace, 56-46 and McClain topped Chillicothe, 41-30.
With two games remaining, McClain is in second place in the FAC at 5-3.
Hillsboro is third at 4-4, followed by Washington at 3-5, Miami Trace at 2-6 and Chillicothe, also 2-6.
Jackson had a trio of players — seniors all — reach double figures in scoring.
T.J. Carpenter and Mattie Walburn both scored 14 points for Jackson and Kenzie Davis had 10 points.
Walburn had a double-double with 10 rebounds. Even more impressive was that nine of those were offensive boards, leading to second-chance scoring opportunities.
Carpenter had four rebounds and three of those were offensive. Jackson had 26 rebounds, 11 on the offensive side.
Sophomore Calee Ellars led Washington in scoring with 12 points. She hit three three-point field goals on three successive shots early in the fourth quarter.
A trio of players — senior Calleigh Wead-Salmi, junior Maggi Wall and sophomore Eliana Racine — each scored six points for Washington.
Wall led Washington with six rebounds (three offensive). Wead-Salmi had three rebounds and Racine had two.
Senior Trinity George scored four points and grabbed two rebounds.
Senior Lilly Shaw scored four points and had one rebound, senior Kaithlyn Maquiling had two points and freshman Iyanna Brown scored two.
Jackson jumped out on Washington with a 10-0 run to begin the game.
Wall scored for Washington to put the home team on the board with a three-point shot at the 5:15 mark of the first quarter.
George, Shaw and Ellars scored for Washington as Jackson held a 22-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Jackson continued in a similar vein in the second quarter, with more defensive pressure, causing more turnovers for Washington and leading to more offense.
Jackson was up by 21 at the half, 36-15.
The Ironladies had a strong third quarter, going up by as many as 29 points on Washington and leading by 29 as the period ended, 53-24.
As mentioned above, Ellars hit three three-point shots to begin the fourth quarter.
Racine scored after an offensive rebound, Wall hit a three and Shaw scored.
Junior Aysha Haney had a steal and got the ball to Racine for another basket.
By this point, Jackson had subbed out its starters and Washington took advantage, scoring 18 points in the fourth to three for Jackson for the 56-42 final.
Jackson head coach Matt Walburn, in his 14th season as the girls’ head coach, spoke after the game.
“Our goal at the beginning of every season, our A-number-one goal is, we want to win the league title,” Walburn said. “We’ve been fortunate. This is our third one in a row.
“My key word on the board tonight was opportunity,” Walburn said. “These kids have an opportunity to do something special. These kids have an opportunity to get their year up on a banner again.
“Are they going to seize that opportunity, or just come out and go through the motions,” Walburn said. “Or are we going to come out and prove why we’re able to win a league title.
“We have a young lady on our team (Lilian Mapes) a freshman, she was able to win a league title in soccer,” Walburn said. “Our soccer team won a league title, she’s able to win a league title in basketball and she’s really good in track. I told her, ‘you don’t really understand it now, but, as a freshman, to already have two league championships — you’ll understand it down the road.’
“Winning a league title is something they can’t take away from you,” Walburn said. “We’re real excited. I thought we came out and played really well in the first three quarters. I started to sub some and my kids off the bench have to do a better job.
“As far as my top six, we gave up 24 points in three quarters,” Walburn said. “I was really pleased with that. All-in-all, I’m happy with our effort offensively and defensively and happy to have another league championship.”
“They came out in a diamond press and we weren’t prepared for that,” Washington head coach John Denen said. “When we tell someone to go to the middle of the floor and they don’t go to the middle of the floor, then we take them out and we say (to the person that replaces her), ‘hey, go to the middle of the floor’ and they go to the middle of the floor, it comes down to wanting to and executing.
“They’re the best team in the conference and (the pace of play) is fast for our kids,” Denen said. “We just have to get all five people on the same page and believing in the process.
“They’ve been very good for three years,” Denen said of Jackson. “They came out in the first quarter and executed the offense. It’s great when you execute the offense and get points 19 and 20 at the end of the first quarter then you get to take the ball out to begin the second quarter.
“That’s a credit to Jackson’s coaching staff and to their kids who have stuck with the process,” Denen said. “One thing I appreciate about (head coach Matt Walburn), he was there when they weren’t very good. He’s worked at it. He’s brought them to this level. I say kudos to that. I kind of like the guys who say, ‘I’ll coach you when you’ve won five games in two years.’
“(Walburn) has done a great job and he’s reaping the rewards of his work getting kids into the gym and they’re one of the better teams in the district,” Denen said.
Washington (7-9 overall) is at McClain (8-6) Wednesday, Jan. 24.
Jackson (12-2 overall) hosts Leesburg Fairfield Saturday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
W 9 6 9 18 — 42
J 22 14 17 3 — 56
WASHINGTON — Kaithlyn Maquiling 1-0-2; Maggi Wall 0 (2)-0-6; Aysha Haney 0-0-0; Calleigh Wead-Salmi 3-0-6; Eliana Racine 3-0-6; Trinity George 2-0-4; Iyanna Brown 1-0-2; Calee Ellars 1 (3)-1-12; Lilly Shaw 2-0-4; Braegan Shiltz 0-0-0. TOTALS — 13 (5)-1-42. Free throw shooting: 1 of 4 for 25 percent. Three-point field goals: Ellars, 3; Wall, 2. Field goal shooting: 18 of 36 for 50 percent. Turnovers: 17. Rebounds: 17 (6 offensive).
JACKSON — Hattie Mollett 0-0-0; Lilian Mapes 0-0-0; Sydney Carpenter 6-0-12; Ella Armstrong 0-0-0; Lea Willett 0-0-0; Lauryn Walburn 0-0-0; T.J. Carpenter 7-0-14; Mattie Walburn 6-2-14; Sydnie Hughes 2-0-4; Kenzie Davis 4-2-10; Jaylynn Montgomery 1-0-2. TOTALS — 26-4-56. Free throw shooting: 4 of 8 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: none. Field goal shooting: 26 of 59 for 44 percent. Turnovers: 8. Rebounds: 26 (11 offensive).
____
Washington wins j-v game against Jackson
In Wednesday’s junior-varsity game, Washington defeated Jackson, 38-26.
Braegan Shiltz was the game’s leading scorer for Washington with 14 points. She made one three-point field goal.
Jada Ryan was also in double figures with 10 points for the Lady Lions. Ryan had six rebounds and Shiltz had five.
Aysha Haney had six points for Washington, while Iyanna Brown and Khalia Smith each scored four points.
Jaylynn Montgomery led Jackson with 12 points.
Ella Armstrong and Lauryn Walburn both scored five points for Jackson and Hattie Mollett scored four.
