Hot at Home(stead)

FORT WAYNE — The Patriots improved in the final three quarters after a slow start. It wasn’t enough for them to overcome the hot-shooting home team.
The Homestead Spartans scorched the nets at their home court Tuesday, making eight of their first 11 3-point attempts. They cooled off from long distance after the intermission, but hit 12 fourth-quarter free throws to finish off a 66-47 victory over Jay County in the opening round of the Class 4A Sectional 6 tournament.
“We didn’t do a very good job of getting to their shooters,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team finished at 11-10. “We knew who they were. … We had to contest their shots, every one of them. … I would say in the first half we contested maybe half of the shots they made. So that hurts.”
Homestead (18-5) came out firing away, with junior Emily Bley hitting the first Spartan 3-pointer on their second possession for a 5-0 lead. Mariah Hornaday scored back-to-back hoops to pull the Patriots to within one, but the next three minutes belonged to the home team.
Bley and Karley Dobis hit back-to-back triples to kick off a 12-0 Homestead run on the way to a 17-6 lead at the end of the opening period.
Jay County picked up its play after sophomores Katlin Petro and Katie Aker combined for six points early in the second quarter, but it still couldn’t close the gap on the hot-shooting Spartans. Sydney Buck made three second-quarter 3-pointers and Bley added two more to help extend the lead to as many as 18 points.
Homestead opened 8-of-11 from long distance with Bley hitting four of her first five attempts and Buck making three of her first four.
“It was very good,” said Homestead coach Rod Parker of his team’s effort from beyond the arc. “It set the tone in that first half. We shot the ball really well. Emily (Bley) and Sydney (Buck) came out and hit some big threes for us and that just opened things up for Carmen (Lowe) inside.”
The Spartans, who advance to play third-ranked Fort Wayne South Side (21-1) in Friday’s semifinal round at 6 p.m., cooled off from 3-point range in the second half, but Jay County was never able to close the gap to fewer than nine points.
The Patriots got to within nine for the last time at 52-43 with six minutes remaining before Homestead put together an 8-0 run to put the game away.
“We got within (nine) and then all of a sudden our flood gates opened up,” said Krieg. “We had three or four turnovers in a row and then we fouled. It was one of those things that just kills you when you’re trying to make a run.”
Homestead, which has won 11 of its last 12, scored 12 of its 14 fourth-quarter points on free throws and finished 22-of-30 from the line.
Bley shot 5-of-6 from the stripe and led the Spartans with 17 points and four assists. Lowe hit five of Homestead’s seven two-point field goals and finished with 16 points.
Dobis, a senior, hit two of her three 3-pointers in the third quarter and made all of her four free-throw tries for 13 points.
“The nice thing about this team I have this year is I think we’re very balanced inside-out,” said Parker. “We’ve got some great perimeter shooters. We’ve got a couple nice post players. And it’s nice when we can go back and forth.
“I just thought it was a pretty good balanced effort. I thought the kids played hard.”
Seniors Kassi Hemmelgarn, who made three 3-pointers, and Mariah Hornaday finished with 13 and 11 points respectively to lead Jay County. Hornaday also notched team highs of eight rebounds and four assists.
The Patriots dropped their final five games, but still put together their 11th straight winning season.
“The seniors, obviously they’re truly going to be missed,” said Krieg. “They played so hard. … They’re great leaders.”[[In-content Ad]]