The Lady Eagles won three of their four games last week, beating Southside 58-45, White Plains 60-5 and Weaver 73-65. Their sole loss came in an area game to Hokes Bluff 52-27.

Jacksonville (11-10, 1-5) the No.4 seed will travel to Centre on Thursday to play No. 1 seed Cherokee County at 7 p.m. in the Class 4A Area 12 tournament. The winner will advance to the finals on Saturday against the winner of the Alexandria-Hokes Bluff game at 5 p.m.

Jacksonville started out the week with its second win of the season over Southside. Sophomore Lacey Buchanon lit up the boards for the Lady Eagles with 22 points and added six rebounds, six assists and six steals.

Buchanon hit from the outside and opened up the inside game with assists to Kenyatta Ervin, who finished the game with 12 points and seven rebounds.

The Lady Eagles were 6-of-9 from beyond the arc to include five 3’s from senior Megan Snider who finished the game with 15 points. It was a fitting game for Snider, the Lady Eagles lone senior, who was honored before the game at Senior Night.

Jacksonville, ahead 26-24 at the half, opened up the game by outscoring Southside 23-10 in the third quarter for the 58-45 win.

Jacksonville lost to Hokes Bluff 52-27 Wednesday in an area game. Earlier in the year when Hokes Bluff was ranked, the Lady Eagles had beaten Hokes Bluff on its home court.

Hokes Bluff was determined not to let that happen again.

While the first half was pretty evenly matched with Hokes Bluff going into the locker room with a 22-15 point lead, the second half was a different story.

The Lady Eagles tried to match up but Hokes Bluff was just too quick. Jacksonville tried penetrating the lane but time and again lost the ball on turnovers or were tied up.

Holding a 34-23 lead after three quarters of play, Hokes Bluff started playing a perimeter game, taking time off the clock, passing the ball around the outside until a shot became available inside.

Buchanon scored 15 for Jacksonville with Ervin adding 10.

Against White Plains, Jacksonville once again put a check in the win column. The last time the two had met White Plains upset Jacksonville in the county tournament.

Returning for the first time since she was injured at the county tournament was Jacksonville’s post player Sharon Osterbind.

The Lady Eagles led throughout the game, sometimes by as much as 15 points. White Plains made a run in the fourth quarter, outscoring Jacksonville 16-8, but the Lady Eagles held on for the win.

Buchanon scored 22 points for Jacksonville, Ervin 17 and Snider 13.

Buchanon, in addition to scoring 39 points in the Lady Eagles 73-65 win over Weaver, also reached a major milestone as she scored her 1500th career point. Buchanon also pulled down 12 rebounds and had four assists.

Jacksonville, playing in the fourth game of the week, had a hard time finding their rhythm against Weaver. While the Lady Eagles led 21-18 at the end of the first quarter and 40-36 at the half, Weaver had cut the lead to 59-58 after three quarters of play and took over the lead in the fourth quarter.

Jacksonville fought back for the win.

In addition to Buchanon, Ervin also recorded a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds as did Osterbind who had 12 points and 13 rebounds in 20 minutes of play.