Relentless, sound and hard-nosed best describes the type of defense Jackson County Central was able to shut down Spirit Lake with Saturday, Dec. 4 in a girls basketball clash.

The Huskies, the top-ranked team in Minnesota's second largest class, made the game plan of combining a physical full-court press with a smothering man-to-man defense seem so simple. JCC stretched a 35-21 halftime edge to 28 over a nine-minute stretch of the second half, salting the game away with defense and easy looks at the offensive end of the court.

"I think probably the biggest thing was their experience and athleticism," said Spirit Lake coach Rick Reinking. "At this point in the season with the number of young kids that we're putting out in certain positions, you're going to get some weaknesses exposed and they certainly did that."

JCC (3-0 overall) forced Spirit Lake (1-1) into committing a season-high 30 turnovers while allowing a very limited number of second chance points and inside looks in the contest.

"Our shot selection needs to get a lot better," said Reinking. "It was hard I think to develop any consistently offensively. And that was because we hadn't played for two weeks and to a greater degree that we played a team that didn't let us get into a flow. We'd get into a flow and then turn around and throw the ball away."

The Indians came out on fire in the first three minutes of the game, building a 10-7 advantage after drilling three 3-pointers in a row. Cara Vale delivered the first two shots from the perimeter, then KJ Veldman got into the action with a long range bomb at the 14:52 mark of the first half.

Spirit Lake's duo of Emily Mercer (left) and Paige Krause battle for a loose ball with Jackson County Central's Whitney Burmeister during the second half of a 65-50 loss to the No. 1 Huskies Saturday, Dec. 4 in Jackson, Minn.

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SL managed two points in the next five minutes, falling behind 18-12. Emily Mercer stopped the bleeding with a transition basket, but JCC standout Whitney Burmeister scored three field goals in the final six minutes to build the halftime lead up to 35-21. Burmeister scored 13 of her 21 points in the first half.

Jackson County Central used a 26-16 run after the break to take a commanding 61-37 lead before the Indians outscored the Huskies 13-4 down the stretch with mostly subs in the game.

"In our non-conference schedule we like to play as difficult as teams as we can," said Reinking about facing the Huskies. "My philosophy has always been that if you play good teams you get better. So win or lose, and at lot of times you're going to lose because they're good teams, we just want to get better and be playing our best basketball at the end of the season."

The Indians shot 33.9 percent (16-of-56) from the field and 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from beyond the arc. The Huskies struggled at the line (12-of-25), but made 26-of-59 field goals for 44.1 percent. They also outrebounded SL 42-31

Veldman led the Indians with 19 points. eight rebounds and four assists. She nailed 3-of-8 3-pointers. Vale added eight points and six rebounds and Krause finished with six points. Whitney Berkland had three steals while Alissa Christoffer and Alli Gerking each added four assists.