Jones' Baxlee Horton leads improbable comeback win

The Jones girls basketball team was 3-14 entering Tuesday’s game against McLoud. Its star player, Baxlee Horton, was on the bench in the first quarter with two fouls. The Longhorns trailed 43-20 at halftime.

Not all great stories include the best teams. This was a comeback by a team that had every reason to go through the motions and play it out. Instead, Jones outscored McLoud 49-22 in the second half and won 69-65.

“It was unbelievable,” coach Connie Backhus said. “I don’t have the film with me, but I cannot wait to watch the second half. I’m so proud of the girls.”

A lot of things were needed to spur the comeback, and they all happened. Backhus said Jones settled for perimeter shots in the first half. In the second half, the Longhorns were more aggressive in taking it to the hole. As a result, McLoud picked up 17 fouls in the second half.

Backhus said the team utilized a full court press for most of the second half, and it worked better than it has ever done before.

“They were just possessed. They wanted the ball,” Backhus said.

And then the free throw line lived up to its moniker of being a charity stripe. Jones, a team that shoots under 50 percent said Backhus, went 18 of 29 from the line. Included in that was an 11-for-14 performance from Danielle Williams.

But really the comeback started at halftime. Backhus said Horton was fired up and told the team that it could pull this off. Horton led by example as she scored a team-high 19 points. Williams had 17.