No. 15 Howard and No. 20 Centennial played last night's game as if it were a playoff contest.
In a way, it was.
Howard's 55-43 victory, powered by Mona Jackson's 32 points, gave the Lions a leg up on the last playoff berth in the Class 3A East.
Coming into the game, Centennial was in the sixth and final qualifying spot, with the Lions seventh. But after last night's win, the defending state champs jumped over Centennial into the sixth spot.
"The bottom line is if we win our remaining three and they win their remaining three, we still have it," said Howard coach Craig O'Connell. "But if we come out Thursday and lose to Glenelg and Centennial wins, then it's right back to where it was."
Both teams knew what was riding on the game and Howard (11-8 overall, 6-5 league) was out to avenge last month's 60-48 loss.
The Lions first broke away in the second quarter when Jackson hit five of eight shots and scored 12 points. Her layup gave the Lions a 32-21 lead late in the first half.
Jackson hit a short jumper in traffic to keep the edge at 11 to open the second half. But with a 37-26 lead, Howard turned the ball over on three of its next four possessions and the Eagles (9-10, 5-6) rallied.
Michelle Kincaid scored five points and Gina Dinisio capped an 11-point run with a 16-footer to tie it midway through the quarter.
Jackson answered with a layup for a 39-37 Lions lead and the teams traded baskets to open the fourth quarter. But after that, the Eagles hit only two of 12 shots and their defense couldn't stop Howard.
Trailing 41-39, the Eagles turned the ball over on their next three possessions and Howard converted twice. Within two minutes, Rebecca Powell hit a 15-footer, Jackson drove for a layup and Megan Boehm fed Jackson an inbounds pass to run the Lions' lead to 47-39.
Centennial never recovered.
"We were missing easy shots," said Eagles coach Dave Greenberg, "but more important than that, it was us throwing the ball away. They had a lot of buckets in transition and that's something you can't let Howard do. That's when Mona's at her best."
Jackson was at her best all night. She shot 12-for-23 from the floor, was 4-for-5 from the line and scored 20 points in the first half alone.
At the same time, the Lions played strong defense against the Eagles' big gun, Kish Jordan. Jordan finished with 19 points, but she did not overwhelm the Lions as she did in the first meeting.
A quick, double-teaming defense led by Jackson, Boehm and Chanelle Carter (10 points) held Jordan below her 23-point average that ranks second in the metro area.
"It takes a monumental effort to stop her," said O'Connell. "We know if she touches the ball, she's going to score, so we wanted to try to not let her have the ball. We put one in front, one in back all the time. We knew we left three players covering the other four, that they were going to get open shots and that they would make some of them, but we were banking that if we limited [Jordan's] point production, it would be enough for us."