Following an 11-all standoff with Jordan-Matthews at the conclusion of the first period, Makayla McClain, Madison Dark and Malea Gerrison combined for all of Providence Grove’s second-quarter points as the Lady Patriots surged to a 24-17 halftime advantage en route to garnering a 51-37 PAC 7 2A Conference victory Tuesday night on their home court.
Snapping a string of four straight losses to the Lady Jets, Providence Grove climbed to 4-2 in the league standings and 7-9 for the year, while J-M fell to 2-4 in the conference and 6-12 overall. Despite the loss, Jordan-Matthews still leads the overall series 16-10.
Dark recorded a game-high 18 points while Gerrison chipped in 11 and McClain finished with nine. The Lady Patriots connected on 21-of-64 (33%) of their field goal attempts while committing 13 turnovers.
Jasmine Scotton led the Lady Jets with 10 points as J-M shot 17-of-51 (33%) from the floor and held a 36-33 advantage in rebounds but turned the ball over 30 times.
Seniah Wiley’s layup with 2:40 left in the opening stanza gave Jordan-Matthews its biggest lead of the evening at 9-4 before Providence Grove rallied to seize an 11-9 advantage on Dark’s turnaround bucket in the lane with 37.5 seconds to go in the initial period.
But the Lady Jets would then forge a tie 12 seconds later on Makayla Glover’s put-back in the paint.
Gerrison’s three-pointer from the right wing nine seconds into the second quarter gave the Lady Patriots the lead for good, and following Glover’s rebound basket off the right baseline that drew J-M within 14-13 with exactly five minutes remaining in the first half, Providence Grove closed out the frame with a 10-4 run to carry a seven-point advantage into intermission.
Ellia Wright’s three-pointer from the right wing with 20.6 seconds to go in the third stanza cut Jordan-Matthews’ deficit to 34-28 prior to Avery Browder’s layup with 4.7 seconds showing on the clock that sent the Lady Patriots into the final eight minutes with an eight-point lead.
A 13-5 burst by Providence Grove to begin the fourth quarter allowed the winners to equal their largest advantage of the night at 49-33 with 3:33 left to play before the Lady Patriots wrapped up their sixth win in their last eight outings after starting the season 1-7
J-M 11 6 11 9 – 37
PG 11 13 12 15 – 51
Jordan-Matthews (6-12, 2-4): Mitchell 3 0-2 6 Ray 0 1-2 1 Scotton 5 0-1 10 Headen 3 0-1 6 Wright 1 1-2 4 Glover 2 0-0 4 Wiley 2 0-0 4 Brooks 0 0-2 0 Artis 0 0-0 0 Honeycutt 0 0-0 0 Payne 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 2-10 37.
Providence Grove (7-9, 4-2): Gerrison 5 0-0 11 Sexton 0 3-3 3 Browder 3 0-0 6 Dark 7 3-4 18 McClain 4 1-2 9 Austin 1 0-2 2 Jackson 0 0-0 0 AMason 0 0-0 0 VTorrain 0 0-0 0 TTorrain 0 0-0 0 MMason 0 0-0 0 Nelson 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 7-11 51.
Halftime: Providence Grove, 24-17. Three-point goals-Jordan-Matthews 1-7 (Wright 1-3, Headen 0-1, Mitchell 0-3); Providence Grove 2-14 (Dark 1-2, Gerrison 1-3, Jackson 0-1, McClain 0-1, Austin 0-2, Sexton 0-5).
Fouled out: None.
Rebounds: Jordan-Matthews 36 (Mitchell 9); Providence Grove 33 (Gerrison 9).
Turnovers: Jordan-Matthews 30; Providence Grove 13.
Total fouls: Jordan-Matthews 8; Providence Grove 14.