ARNOLD – It was fitting that the Jackson girls basketball team needed a defensive stop to earn their first trip to the final four in 23 years.
And it was fitting that sophomore Kate Deck made the play that sealed it.
Deck bookended a blistering start on offense with a steal in the final seconds on defense to propel Jackson to a 50-45 victory over Marquette in a Class 6 quarterfinal Friday at Fox High School.
Jackson (27-1), which reached its first final four since 2003, will play last year’s state runner-up Staley (28-2) in a Class 6 semifinal at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 18 during the MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
Eight-time defending champion Incarnate Word (27-2) will face Lee’s Summit West (27-3) in the other Class 6 semifinal at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The third-place and championship games will occur Thursday, March 19.
Jackson led 46-38 with 2 minutes 45 seconds remaining before Marquette made a furious charge. A pair of backcourt steals and layups by sophomore Bailey Owen and a deep three by junior MaryAnn Kenyon sliced the Mustangs deficit to 46-45 in a heartbeat.
“We couldn’t seem to get within 8-to-10 points, so that’s when we went back to our press in the full court to make a comeback, and I thought we were going to do it,” Marquette coach Tim Bowdern said.
But Deck, wearing a uniform colored red and black, had more cards to play.
First, she escaped a left-wing double team, exploded to the basket and converted a full-speed layup to expand the lead to 48-45 with 58 seconds remaining.
Marquette called a timeout to set up a play, but the Mustangs had to use a second timeout with 19 seconds remaining after every avenue was cut off by relentless Jackson pursuit.
“We really take pride in our defense, and we worked our butts off on that defensive possession,” sophomore Lauren Dorey said. “We knew we had to. Going to the final four is a goal everyone dreams of.”
Marquette set up a play for Kenyon, but Deck deflected the entry pass, made the steal, and sent sophomore Addison Henderson to the free throw line with six seconds remaining.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We knew it was going to come down to the last few possessions, and we knew we had to play great defense,” Deck said. “Everyone knew their assignment and everyone did their job defensively.”
Henderson took the long walk to the free throw line with a chance to book Jackson’s reservation to the final four.
“As I was walking up there, all my teammates were telling me, ‘You got this,’ Henderson said. “I took a few deep breaths. I knew my teammates had full confidence in me, and that helped out a lot.”
Swish, swish.
“This means more than I can describe,” Jackson coach Angela Fulton said. “At the beginning of the season, we didn’t know how we were going to look, being so young. To do what we’ve done, 27-1, speaks volumes for a young group.”
That advanced maturity was evident in the sophomore Deck, who vocally encouraged her teammates throughout warmups and then led by example from the jump.
Facing a Marquette defense that alternated possessions between zone and man-to-man, Deck drained a trio of threes on the perimeter of the Mustangs’ zone and connected on pull-ups and floaters when facing man-to-man. Her buzzer-beating three gave her 15 points in the first quarter alone, and staked Jackson to a 21-12 lead after one.
“There are going to be games when I’m hot, maybe it’s me, maybe it’s someone else, and my teammates did a great job finding me,” said Deck, who finished with 23 points.
Marquette made a defensive adjustment and began trapping Deck on the perimeter whenever she caught the ball. Despite holding Deck scoreless in the second quarter, the Mustangs could not cut into the deficit and trailed 29-18 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Marquette employed one of its signature combination defenses, a diamond-and-one, where sophomore Maddie Lorber denied Deck from catching the ball while the other four defenders played zone.
“(Deck) was controlling the game when she had the ball in her hands, whether she was scoring or not, so we tried to get it out of her hands to make other players make some decisions,” Bowdern said.
One of those decision makers was freshman Brynn Bandermann. Just as freshman Adelyn Abernathy did during the district championship game against Cor Jesu, Bandermann emerged to make big plays in the second half to keep Jackson ahead on the scoreboard.
After Marquette sliced the deficit to 35-30, Bandermann sliced to the hoop for a give-and-go that increased the lead. Her smooth floater in the lane to begin the fourth quarter gave Jackson a 42-34 advantage.
“This atmosphere, it was just exciting to play in, and my nerves turned into excitement,” said Bandermann, who played only two minutes in the district championship win over Cor Jesu. “My teammates were telling me to be calm and that helped me get through it.”
But in the final minutes, a ferocious push by Marquette turned Jackson’s calmness to jitters. Deflected passes, backcourt steals and breakaway layups cut the Jackson lead to 46-45 and gave the Mustangs all the momentum down the stretch.
“We knew we made some mistakes at the end, but we knew, ‘This is our moment. This is what we dream of as little kids,” Dorey said.
And Deck extended the winning hand at the end.
“They knew we wanted to get it to (Kenyon) and they blew it up,” Bowdern said. “We turned it over and that was the end of it.”
Marquette received 15 points from Kenyon, 13 from Owen and 12 from senior Lauren Shuert, one of only two seniors graduating from a young and talented Mustangs’ squad.
“It’s tough right now. Saying goodbye to Lauren and Sammie (Aldenderfer) was our focus (in the locker room), but those are conversations we’re going to have as a team as the summer comes along. ‘Listen, we made all that investment, we played up until March 13, and we were one possession away from a final four,'” Bowdern said.
And for the first time in 23 years, that final four will include a Jackson girls basketball team.
“It’s so unreal that’s it’s come true. We’re going to soak all this in and celebrate,” Dorey said. “We’re not done yet.”
For a photo gallery from this game, go to this link: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/2023-24-Girls-Basketball/Girls-Basketball-2025-26/Marquette-vs-Jackson-C6-quarterfinal