After losing a heart-breaker to Iowa City High Friday night, a Saturday afternoon matinee at home was just what the doctor ordered for the Jefferson girls.

There was no noticeable letdown from the night before, when they led the fifth ranked Little Hawks by one at halftime only to fall 84-63.

Instead, the J-Hawks came out fired-up from the start – stealing passes all over the place, yanking down rebounds on both ends of the court and racing non-stop.

Before even taking a breather, they were up 20-9 after a quarter, soon stretched the margin to 20 and then 30 at the half.

By the time the bench was cleared midway though the third period they led by 39 points and finally settled for a 64-27 rout.

“We probably played our best basketball of the year in the first half against City High,” said Jefferson Coach Jason Edwards. “It was a tale of two halves, but we wanted to carry over the same kind of energy we had at the start of that game coming into this one.”

The J-Hawks (8-10) were ferocious on defense right from the opening tip.  They forced 25 Clinton turnovers for the game (while losing the ball only 10 times themselves), and 17 of those miscues were clean steals by tenacious Jefferson defenders.

Taylor Jacobson led with five thefts and was also in double figures with 11 points, including two 3-pointers.

Even when the River Queens (4-13) did get off a shot, they were given no second chance opportunities.

“Our game,” said J-Hawk senior point guard Dani Stromert, “is to play hard on defense, get rebounds and then run the floor. Our best games are we can play up-tempo.

“We really did a good job of executing today.”

Against a tall but inexperienced Clinton squad with but one senior and five freshmen, Jefferson went down under to leading scorer Maddie Koolbeck early and often.

An all-but-unstoppable force around the basket, the solid 5-foot-11 senior had 14 of her team-high 20 points in the first half.

“We try to get the outlet pass to Dani, then to me,” explained senior wing player Kaitlyn Davidson, “then I get it in to Maddie.”

Davidson ended up with six of her team’s 18 assists by feeding Koolbeck for easy lay-ups.

J-Hawk senior sparkplug Rachel Broghammer played her usual hard-nosed game on defense and on the boards as well as contributing eight points.

Nick-named “Bronco” as a freshman by track coach Bill Calloway because of the way she competes with wild abandon, Broghammer thought the team bounced back well from the disappointing defeat of the night before.

“We wanted to  start the game strong and stay strong,” she said, “and we did that. We played fast-paced and with intensity and just kept pushing.”

With a week to prepare, Jefferson plays at Kennedy next Friday in hopes of breaking an 11-game losing streak against the Cougars.  The five senior J-Hawk starters have never beaten Kennedy.

“We’ve got three tough games in a row against Kennedy, Xavier and Washington,” said Coach Edwards.  “We’re getting better but we’ve yet to play our best game. Down the stretch we’ll find out just where we stand.”

CLINTON (27): Shannon Shovlain 0 0-0 0, Erin Wenzel 1 4-7 6, Elle Tubbs 1 0-0 3, Jordan Nelson 2 1-6 6, McKenzie Petersen 4 1-5 9, Hannah Burken 0 0-0 0,  Gracie Buech 1 1-2 3, Allysa Butt 0 0-0 0, Emma Gettes 0 0-0 0, Libby Mumm 0 0-0  0. Totals 9 7-20 27.

JEFFERSON (64): Kaitlyn Davidson 2 0-0 4, Dani Stromert 2 0-0 5, Taylor Jacobson 3 3-4 11, Rachel Broghammer 4 0-1 8, Maddie Koolbeck 8 3-5 20, Amanda  Ollinger 3 0-0 6, Maddy Blietz 2 0-0 4, Kieley Brathwaite 0 0-0 0, Autumn Starks  0 0-0 0, Shaylee Maas 0 0-0 0, Shalyn Kinney 1 0-0 2, Kylie Jonas 1 0-0 2, Carly  Beastrom 0 0-0 0, Paige Timmerman 0 2-2 2. Totals 26 8-12 64.

Halftime – Jefferson 42, Clinton 12. 3-point goals – Clinton 2 (Tubbs, Nelson), Jefferson 4 (Jacobson 2, Koolbeck, Stromert). Total fouls – Clinton 9,  Jefferson 15. Fouled out – none.