Jeck shines as Lady Eagles avoid first-round upset

Nikki Jeck made sure the Lady Eagles didn’t fall victim to an unlikely upset Thursday in the opening round of the Madison Southern Holiday Classic. Jeck had a game-high 26 points and also had six rebounds, eight steals and five assists as the Lady Eagles picked up sloppy 54-38 victory over Jenkins. Madison Southern (3-5) shot just less than 33 percent and had 21 turnovers, but still managed to pull away late for an opening-round win. “We’ve only played three games all year with everyone,” Jeck said. “We were still missing one girl today. Three girls had just come back from injuries. I think we are just trying to find our place and get into a little bit of groove.” 

Southern hadn’t played in seven days and looked more than a little out of synch at times. The Lady Eagles did jump on top 6-0, but went into the second quarter up by just a point after Jeck hit a turnaround, fall-away jumper at the buzzer. “Thank goodness we had Nikki,” Southern coach Brian Cunigan said. Jeck had 15 points in the first half, but it was three pointers by Courtney Harold and Brooke Casteel that allowed Southern to take a 31-20 lead into halftime. The Lady Eagles stretched their lead to a game-high 18 points on back-to-back baskets by Brittany Calhoun in the third, still Jenkins would get back to within 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter. Southern put the game away with a 9-0 run later in the period.

“We’ve had some injuries, but that’s no excuse,” Cunnigan said. “We didn’t play with very much intensity and that’s something that doesn’t have anything to do with a layoff or injuries or anything else.” 

Calhoun finished with 12 points, Kassie Damrell had eight points, Casteel and Harold each had three points and Candace Himes had two points for Southern. Nichole Revis had a team-high 21 points for Jenkins. Southern returns to action at 6 p.m. today against Lewis County.