Archers shoot down JC

MARION — For a half, the Patriots played well enough to put a scare into the sectional favorites. But the Archers' near-perfect aim from long distance to start the second half shot down any hope of a Jay County upset.
Fort Wayne South Side hit the bulls eye on 3-pointer after 3-pointer in the third quarter, outscoring the Patriots 26-6 as it pulled away from a 58-37 victory in Tuesday’s opening round of the Class 4A Sectional 6 tournament.
The Archers’ five 3-pointers in the first 4:12 of the third quarter accounted for a 15-0 run that pushed their lead to 19.
“We did some good things early on, but then we stopped playing,” said SSHS coach Juanita Goodwell, whose team ran out to a 10-2 lead but was up by just four at halftime. “It’s kind of hard when you’ve played a team before … I tried to tell the girls, ‘It’s a different team, because they know how to play you now.’
“We lost focus, started getting a little frustrated with ourselves. At halftime, it was just about firing them back up … They were able to pick up the intensity in the third quarter.”
DeJoyah Johnson hit her only 3-point attempt to start the South Side run, and Jamesha Ridley followed with back-to-back triples for a 30-17 lead. Aysia Thomas hit another long ball that forced a Patriot timeout with 4:15 on the clock, and Ridley buried her third triple on the ensuing Archer possession.
South Side (19-3) hit five of its first six 3-point tries of the second half, and finished the game at 8-of-14 (57 percent) from long distance.
And while the Archers caught fire, Jay County opened the second half 0-for-3 with four turnovers before Erin Hunt scored on a put-back with about 3:30 on the clock.
“I told the girls, ‘If they’re going to beat us, they’re going to have to hit 3s.’ And they’re a team that’s hit and miss on the threes,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team finished at 11-7. “I’ve watched their last six games … and the Homestead game they hit darn near every shot they took from the outside. But in the other five, they were terrible outside.
“We had to pack the paint, because (5-foot-11-inch forward Ariana Simmons) is a heck of an athlete, their leading scorer, and probably their best player. We were packing it in and making them beat us from the outside, and they did.
“South Side is a very fine basketball team. There is no doubt about it. If they can hit the three like this, along with their inside game, they can do some damage.”
Lynnia Noel led the Archers with 13 points, and Simmons scored 10 of her 12 in the first half. Ridley and Brittany Johnson each hit three 3-pointers and finished with nine points apiece.
The third-quarter barrage of 3-pointers trumped a solid first half from the Patriots, who turned the ball over 35 times in a 38-point, season-opening loss to South Side. The story in Tuesday’s tournament game was much different.
With Cara Garringer calmly leading Jay County against the Archers’ full-court pressure defense, the team went turnover-free in the first quarter. It had just four turnovers at halftime.
And although they struggled to scored, some 3-pointers kept them within striking distance.
Erin Hunt hit a 3-pointer with three seconds to go in the opening period, and Kassi Hemmlgarn hit a pair in the second quarter to pull the Patriots to within 12-11. South Side scored the next six points before Hunt hit a 3-pointer with 52 seconds left. And Garringer added a triple at the halftime buzzer to make it 21-17 at the break.
“She has vision,” said Krieg of Garringer, who did not play in the season-opener against South Side because of a knee injury. “She has a very high basketball IQ. She understands the game. She sees things very well, and she can deliver the ball to the open person.
“In the first half, we did exactly what we needed to do. We kind of had them scared.”
While 3-pointers kept the Patriots alive in the first half, they struggled from inside the arc.They were 0-for-10 from two-point range in the first half, missing their first 13 attempts before Hunt’s hoop in the third quarter.
Jay County finished at just 33 percent from the field.
Maria Murphy scored 10 of her team-high 12 points in the second half. Kassi Hemmelgarn added nine points, all on 3-pointers, Mariah Hornaday had 10 rebounds and four assists, and Erin Hunt totaled eight points and five assists.
The Patriots dropped out of the tournament in their opening game for the third straight year, but also turned in their ninth straight winning season.
“It’s a great group of kids,” said Krieg. “Our effort was good. The kids worked extremely hard this year. …
“I’m proud of them. It’s been fun.”[[In-content Ad]]