Forest Park eases to win

By Dave Utnik

Published: February 26, 2008

The transformation occurred gradually over three varsity seasons. It was so subtle, in fact, that Danni Jackson hardly noticed it at all.

She’s a playmaker so most of the decisions she makes on the basketball court come sort of natu-rally. Passing the ball, avoiding half-court traps and shooting three-pointers is what she does. It’s just that Jackson doesn’t always associate those things with leadership.

“I wouldn’t say I’m exactly the leader. We all have our leadership ways,” Jackson said. “On the court I just try to be vocal and get everybody involved.”

At Forest Park, where the starting lineup features at least four future Division I collegiate players, winning is a group effort.

But one thing is becoming abundantly clear as the postseason unfolds: The Bruins are Jackson’s team.

On Tuesday night in the Northwest Region Tournament, the junior point guard scored a game-high 23 points — her third consecutive playoff game with 20 or more points — as Forest Park ad-vanced to the semifinals with a 61-38 victory over Osbourn Park.

“The two biggest changes I’ve seen in Danni are her leadership, the fact that she’s a junior now and knows she has to lead, and the other one is she has a great feel for the game and when a team makes any kind of run she senses that and counters it,” Bruins coach Rebecca Tillett said.

The visiting Yellow Jackets (13-12) never made a run, but they hung around for much of the first half — until Jackson took matters into her own hands.

“There are certain times when you have to click the light on and just go,” said Jackson, who hit five 3-pointers against OP’s zone defense. “If I see the team getting sluggish I know it’s because of me because I set the tone for the team and that just means I need to pick it up.”

With Jackson running the offense, the Bruins have won 16 consecutive games and now face Commonwealth District regular season champion Riverbend — a 67-42 winner over Franklin County — on Thursday.

Against the Jackets, she sparked a 20-8 scoring run that sent Forest Park into halftime with a 17-point lead and, more importantly, made sure that every Bruin played a role.

Amber Epps scored 12 points and seven different players had at least one field goal for Forest Park. Kelley Hamner paced OP with 13 points.

“We talked about patience, getting reversals and attacking at the right moment,” Tillett said. “Danni did a great job making those reads, especially in the second and third quarters.”