Below are recaps of her last three games.

Alexandria 48, Marion 66

On Wednesday, the Alexandria Lady Tigers hosted the Marion Giants as they began their final stretch run into post-season tournaments. Marion used full court pressure to create several early Alex miscues, which led to an early 12-2 lead. Alexandria concentrated their defensive attention on stopping the inside game of the taller Giants. That left junior Marion guard, Kelly Wisser open for several looks at the basket. Wisser connected on 5 first half 3-pointers to push her team to a 44-24 halftime lead.

Meanwhile, the Giants made it very difficult for Howell to touch the ball once she passed it inbounds. Despite their efforts, the Alexandria senior pulled her team into contention in the second half. With 3:43 remaining, Alexandria came back from a 25-point deficit to pull to within 12 points and the ball possession. Two consecutive Marion 3-pointers squelched the rally with the final score, 48-66. Howell finished the game with another strong performance, (25 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists).

Alexandria 54, Wabash 46

In a game with 14 lead changes, Alexandria hit all eight of their freethrows at the end of the game to beat Wabash, 54-46. Six of the final eight freethrows came from Jodi Howell, who scored 22 points for the game.

Anderson 49, Alexandria 47

Senior Lady Tiger, Jodi Howell played a superb floor game and led her youthful teammates from behind to challenge the Anderson Lady Tribe on their home court. Anderson entering the game at 11-3, averted an upset loss to the 5-8, Alex Lady Tigers by a narrow margin of 49-47. Howell got desperation 3-pointer off from 35 feet as time expired which would have given the Alex squad the upset victory. The shot rattled the rim and bounced away as the buzzer sounded. Howell, a Purdue recruit, finished with a game high 22 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and two steals to lead the Lady Tigers.

"I thought we competed and we understood what we are and what they are. To this point we’d been a pressing team, but coming into this game against athletes like this, we can’t press," said Alex coach Jon Howell. "I thought we did a great job of covering the important real estate."

Anderson started hot with an 8-0 run behind a trio of 3-pointers. "I told the kids that if they hit some early 3-point shots, that’s alright because it’s fool’s gold," said Howell. "I’ve had teams that fell into that situation and it’s a self-inflicted trap. I thought the entire game went the way we needed it to go."

Anderson finished the first quarter leading 17-12, but a Tiger defense that called for defending the lane made inside shots impossible to come by for the Lady Tribe. Jodi Howell kept Alex close with eight first-quarter points.

"Hats off to Jon for having a nice game plan against Paris Miles and a fancy zone that caused us a lot of confusion," said AHS coach Chad Wetz.

Anderson led by six at the half. But in the third quarter, the Lady Tigers came up with a run of their own. Balanced scoring from the Tigers led them to a 40-37 lead going into the final stanza.

"I thought Jodi played a whale of a ballgame," said Howell. "Annie Kirkwood for us played her best game of her life. Sarah Almack started connecting on the shot she’s been struggling with all year. But I thought everybody matured a little bit tonight. This team has come a long way this year."

In the final quarter Anderson reclaimed the lead with a pair of lay-ups and a three-pointer from De’Ja Wills. Alex’s Jodi Howell answered with a three-pointer on a fast break with just less than two minutes to answer to make it 48-47, AHS. Anderson then took 45 seconds off the clock before Alex fouled Wills, who connected on 1-2 free throws, to give AHS a 49-47 lead.

Lady Tiger senior, Annie Kirkwood got a clean look off a Jodi Howell pass but missed and was fouled on the rebound shot. Kirkwood missed the first free throw and with 4 seconds on the clock. Intentionally missing the second shot, Kirkwood failed to hit the rim. Alex fouled on the ensuing inbound pass and sent Wills to the free throw line with two seconds remaining. Wills missed everything and the Tigers had time for a long pass to Howell, whose long shot rattled out to end the game.

"Alexandria played their best game of the year bar none, but we played a better game down the stretch to secure the win," Wetz said.

Alexandria currently stands at 6-10 with their final two regular season games coming up this Friday at home against Yorktown and Saturday at Mississinewa.