The two-day Mona Jackson show ended yesterday in the Liberty Belle tournament and it drew nothing but rave reviews.
"She's the best guard-forward player we've played against anywhere," said Magruder coach Matt Noble moments after Jackson had scored 30 points to lead 15th-ranked Howard to a 66-29 victory over the Colonels in the girls championship game ++ of the Liberty Belle tourney.
"Mona's coming on so strong this season because she's really working hard and I hope the college coaches sit up and take notice of her now," said Howard coach Craig O'Connell.
"They really haven't taken a good look at Mona in the past three years because she didn't have a position. She's 5-foot-7 and isn't really a shooting guard and she's not a true point guard. But she can run, jump, play super defense and do a lot of things it takes to win games. Maybe she can be made into a point guard."
At one point in the game, Jackson stole three straight in-bounds passes and turned them into length-of-the-court drives for layups.
In all yesterday, Jackson had eight steals, 14 rebounds and four assists in addition to her 30 points.
Jackson had 53 points, 14 steals, 26 rebounds and eight assists in two games. She has now scored 1,034 points in her four-year career at Howard.
Howard (5-2) outscored its opponents, 136-72, in spite of having only six players available due to injuries and illnesses.
Against Magruder (1-7), the outcome was never in doubt after Jackson scored 11 of Howard's 13 points in the first quarter for a 13-5 lead.
Jackson had 18 of her team's first 22 points before collecting her second foul with 1:37 left in the first half.
She was hindered by foul trouble the rest of the game and fouled out with five seconds left.
There were many plays by Jackson yesterday that could qualify for a highlight film, but the one that had everybody, including the officials, talking came with 4:17 left in the first half.
Jackson stole a Magruder pass at midcourt, used a behind-the-back dribble to get past two Colonels' defenders and then topped it off with a nifty left-handed layup.
"That move and the spin are the two I work on the most," said Jackson. "I had a feeling I was having a good game today but I never thought I would score 30 points."
"We don't have enough athletes or shooters to stay with a team like Howard," said Noble.
"And having our tallest player [5-foot-9 Susan Eshleman] at only half-speed due to the flu also hurt us a lot."
In the girls consolation game, Northeast (6-1) dealt Liberty its eighth straight loss, rolling to a 59-37 victory.