“We’ve grown up together,” said Mercer, who scored 10 points Thursday, helping the Blue Jays defeat Springfield, 50-38, in a Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference game. “We’re all friends. We started playing together our freshman year and we went undefeated that season on junior varsity. It’s helped us a lot. We’ve all learned to play together.”

The Blue Jays spread the ball around early and often against the Tigers. Six players hit the bottom of the net as Jackson-Milton took a 14-4 lead into the second quarter. Sophomore Chelsea Williams and junior Camryn Mitchell joined the seniors in the scoring action.

Tiger sophomore Kaila LaMorticella ripped down a big rebound but Mercer swiped it away early in the second. Then, Bogden fell hard and the game was stopped for several minutes. When play resumed, Blue Jay junior Kelsie Taylor went down with a leg cramp but later returned.

“Julia is going to the hospital to probably get stitches,” Blue Jay coach Pat Keney said. “She’s tough and we know she is going to be OK. Tonight, we were patient with our offense. We came out in the first quarter and played like we wanted to win. We have some talent. Springfield is well coached. They made us work for everything. This was a big step for us.”

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Kylie Wilson, left, of Jackson-Milton stumbles while defending Springfield guard Kylee Kosek.

Deak nailed one from downtown and McDevitt followed with a basket making it 19-8 Blue Jays. However, Madison Lesnak drilled a long 2-point shot and Kylee Kosek had a good take to the hoop for Springfield (7-8, 4-5). Jackson-Milton led 21-14 at the break.

Spalding (13 points) began the third with a strong lay-in and Williams (13 points) canned a 3-pointer. Springfield’s freshman captains answered. Lesnak stole the ball and finished an and-one, and Jacey Mullen (game-high 14 points) pulled off a great spin move in the post.

“Jackson-Milton came out with a lot of firepower,” Springfield coach Jim Schuler said. “They put pressure on us. We got sped up and lost control a little bit. We didn’t come out with that hunger and that intensity early. They kind of shell-shocked us and we didn’t recover fast enough.”

Sophomore Kylie Wilson had a smooth one-handed runner in the lane and Spalding’s shot at the buzzer gave the Blue Jays a 36-25 lead heading to the fourth.

Lesnak (13 points) started the fourth with a breakaway lay-up off of a turnover. LaMorticella hit one from long distance to keep the Tigers close, but Williams had a tremendous assist to Mercer who helped seal the victory at the line.

“That was one of the best games we’ve played all year,” Mercer said. “We came out ready to play. We played great defense. We helped each other out when we were in trouble. We played together as a team.”