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high school sportsBasketball

Standout Alexis Jones leads MacArthur girls past Keller

COLLEYVILLE — Irving MacArthur’s Alexis Jones displayed some moves that shocked even her teammates Friday night.

The McDonald’s All-American also exhibited a slight limp after MacArthur’s 64-47 victory over Keller.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just a knot on my knee.”

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Coach Suzy Oelschlegel said she was not worried about the bruise Jones suffered when her knee clanged against the knee brace of a Keller player.

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The defending Class 5A state champs move on to play Plano West, which beat Cedar Hill. The game will be Tuesday, but the site has not been determined.

Jones had no problem running, or scoring, against Keller. She had a game-high 27 points and led an intense defensive attack that foiled Keller’s outside shooting and created turnovers and fast-break scoring chances.

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The Cardinals spread their scoring. Ayriel Anderson had 15 points, Tory Jacobs scored 13 and Khoria Newman added six.

“We didn’t want them to get any easy 3s because we know they are a good 3-point shooting team,” Anderson said. “I thought our defense was great, and I like it when we’re running a lot. That’s my game.”

Taylor Vincent led Keller with 20 points, Lindsey Miner had 11 and Kate Scott scored seven.

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The Cardinals called off their press in the first quarter and spread out to limit open looks. That change led to a 21-9 second-quarter edge, and the Cardinals went into halftime leading 36-18.

In the second half, their lead never went below 14 points.

“I’m proud of the balanced scoring, and I thought we played some pretty good defense,” Oelschlegel said. “Shooting from the perimeter is really their game, but we had to key in on a couple of them that we knew were deadly. I just felt like we were probably better defending those perimeter shooters.”

The Cardinals defeated Plano West, 56-51, earlier in the season and eliminated West in the third round last season.

“They’re playing with a lot of confidence,” Oelschlegel said of her players. “They are on track.”