Staff report

JACKSON CENTER — Jackson Center had a huge first half and went on to beat the Botkins Lady Trojans 47-41 in County girls basketball action Thursday.

The Lady Tigers remain alone in first place in the County standings at 8-1 and are now 12-3 overall heading into a home game today against Covington.

Botkins, after winning its first three league games, is now 5-5 in the County and 12-5 on the year heading into a non-league game today at New Knoxville.

The final score Thursday night was deceiving because the Lady Tigers rolled to a 35-15 lead at the half. But they added just 12 points over the final two periods, and it became closer thanks to Botkins’ 19-point fourth quarter.

Cassie Meyer had 15 and Kamryn Elchert 12 for the Lady Tigers.

Jenna Pitts hit four three-pointers and had 10 points in the final period to finish with 16 for Botkins. Sarah Bergman added nine and was 5-for-6 from the line.

As a team, Botkins dropped in 11 of 13 from the stripe.

Botkins (41) — Pitts 16, T. Greve 5, Bergman 9, Lane 5, Woodall 4, Homan 2.

Jackson Center (47) — Reese 7, Elchert 12, Meyer 15, Winner 5, Clark 3, Kessler 2, Ware 3.

Score by quarters:

Botkins`8`15`22`41

Jackson`12`35`40`47

Three-pointers: Botkins 6 (Pitts 4, Greve, Lane); JC 5 (Elchert 2, Meyer 2, Winner).

Records: Botkins 12-5, JC 12-3.

County standings

`League`All

`W-L`W-L

Jackson Center`8-1`12-2

Fort Loramie`7-2`11-5

Russia`6-2`14-3

Botkins`5-5`12-5

Anna`3-6`8-8

Houston`2-7`5-12

Fairlawn`0-8`0-16