The Jefferson girls basketball team won its season opener in overtime Saturday night, but may have lost its best player.

Junior forward Taylor Jacobson, the J-Hawks’ floor leader and top scorer, crashed to the floor on a drive to the basket with 5:42 to go in regulation play.

In tears and obvious pain with an injured right leg, she was taken to the locker room and then to Mercy Medical Center after the game.

Jefferson Coach Larry Niemeyer said an x-ray at the hospital showed no break, but that it’s feared Jacobson may have a torn tendon.

“They told us to keep it on ice and see how she feels Monday or Tuesday,” Niemeyer said. “So we won’t know anything definite until then.”

If she’s out for the season or even for an extended amount of time, it would be a serious blow to Jefferson’s already-fragile lineup.

“Jake’s our best shooter, and everyone feeds off of her,” Niemeyer said. “And right now, we don’t have much of a bench.”

In their come-from-behind 66-60 overtime victory over non-conference foe Bettendorf, Jefferson used just seven players.

And the only sub to see significant court time was junior point guard Dani Stromert, who replaced Jacobson.

Despite trailing most of the way in a sometimes sloppy contest, the J-Hawks had eked ahead 45-43 when Jacobson went down. She was the leading scorer at the time with 16 points.

Jefferson had the ball a one-point lead with under a minute to play when Bettendorf stole the ball and went ahead on a jumper by Anna Fry.

With 11.9 seconds left, J-Hawk junior Rachel Broghammer was fouled. After missing her first free throw, she made the second to send the game into overtime tied at 56-56.

"Coming out of the huddle, we said that we weren’t going to lose this first game of the year,” said Broghammer, a 5-foot-9 forward who led her team with 17 points and 11 rebounds.  “Seeing Taylor hurt and on crutches made us even more determined.  We just were not going to lose.”

She won the overtime tip and fellow junior post player Maddie Koolbeck hit two quick buckets under the basket.

After a steal, Jeff sophomore Madison Blietz sank two free throws. Broghammer then made another one of two to stretch the lead to 63-56 before the Bulldogs scored their first point in overtime with less than two minutes left.

A strong rebound by Stromert and nice outlet pass to a streaking Kaitlyn Davidson down the floor extended the lead to 65-57.

Koolbeck, who had 15 points to go with five rebounds and two blocks, said her team stepped it up after a shaky first half.

“It was the first game with a lot of new starters, so we had a lot of jitters. It took us awhile to click, but when started to apply more pressure we started playing better," she said.

Niemeyer said he was glad to come away with a win over a traditionally-tough Mississippi Athletic Conference opponent.

“Bettendorf is a very good team,” he said. “Overall, I thought our defense was good.

“We didn’t handle their press real well and threw the ball out of bounds a lot. But it’s first game, and that happens.”

For the game, Jefferson committed 32 turnovers and Bettendorf 23.

Neither team has much height, but the J-Hawks outrebounded the Bulldogs 28-27.  Blietz ended up 10 points, seven rebounds and five steals, while Davidson had eight points and five steals.

“It was a good game,” said Bettendorf Coach Scott Lammers. “We had trouble with their zone defense, and we kind of got stagnant  late in the game.”

Bettendorf finished 18-5 last year, but is 0-2 to start this season after earlier falling 51-34 to Dubuque Wahlert.

“It’s always good to start off the year with a couple of Mississippi Valley teams just to know where we are and what we have to do," Lammers said.

BETTENDORF (60): Miranda Holle 2 0-0 5, Katie Moore 9 2-4 21, Anna Fry 8 2-2 20, Liz Finn 2 1-2 6, Erin Levsen 0 0-0 0, Kayla Contreas 0 0-2 0, Kim Ruth 0 2-2 2, Ali Schuetz 2 1-2 6, Abbi Clevenger 0 0-0 0. Team 23 8-14 60.

JEFFERSON (66): Kaitlyn Davidson 4 0-0 8, Madison Blietz 3 4-4 10, Taylor Jacobson 7 2-3 16, Rachel Broghammer 4 9-14 17, Maddie Koolbeck 5 5-9 15, Dani Stromert 0 0-0 0, Kieley Brathwaite 0 0-0 0. Team 23 20-30 66.

Halftime - Bettendorf 33, Jefferson 29. Regulation - Bettendorf 56, Jefferson 56. 3-point goals - Bettendorf 6 (Fry 2, Holle, Moore, Finn, Schuetz), Jefferson 0. Total fouls - Bettendorf 23, Jefferson 9. Fouled out - Schuetz.