Breezie Williams jump starts the Golden Eagles in a rare Friday night bout.

Kylie Hawk got the Bears on the board within seconds of their first possession but GlenOak followed with a few offensive rebound putbacks to regain a lead they’d control the rest of the half. Despite getting down 11-6 after a quarter the Polar Bears guarded 6’5″ post Jordan Weir well and forced GlenOak to beat them from the outside. That plan worked well until Lexi Kleptach knocked down the first of her three treys of the night, as the final horn was sounding to end the first quarter.

The Eagles caught a lot of people off guard by having junior PG Breezie Williams guard Jackson’s leading scorer Emma Dretke. All in all Breezie did a great job against the much bigger and stronger junior, holding pat until Jackson switched to a zone. Although Aniyah Hall showed that she can be an effective high post passer, GlenOak came up empty quite a bit en route to Jackson making a push and tying the game at 14. An Ava Scroggs free throw would prove to be the difference at the half as Jackson went in the locker room up 15-14.

Jackson played their 2nd game without star sophomore Lauren Pallotta who is shut down due to a high ankle sprain. The lefty had been averaging 15 a game while playing through it, but hasn’t been able to go the last few games.

Jackson started the 2nd half trying to take advantage of the mismatch and get the ball to Dretke in the post, they just weren’t consistent enough on the entries to make GlenOak make any changes. Meya Metz started off the hot 3rd quarter for the Eagles with a three as they took the lead back.

Then it was Breezie time…

The junior PG got into the paint and create a wide open dump off to Hall, then followed it with a floater, then finished it with another bucket, alley oop style! After Aniyah Hall cleaned up a miss GlenOak suddenly led by 10 as the 3rd quarter buzzer sounded.

The 4th quarter was high speed and gave us plenty of entertainment. An Ignacio three, followed by a Dretke steal and coast to coast layup pulled the Bears within seven. Then came the backbreaker, Lexi Kleptach. She hit back to back three’s both after Emma Dretke pulled the Polar Bears into single digits.

With a minute left in the game Jackson made a furious attempt at a comeback, forcing GlenOak into several turnovers, but it was too little, too late. The Eagles held on for a 42-34 win as they were led by Aniyah Hall’s 13 points. Breezie Williams and Lexi Kleptach added nine each. Emma Dretke led Jackson with 11 while Leena Patibandla chipped in 10.