Jay earns road win

HUNTINGTON — Thirty-five years of history is a lot to overcome, regardless of the records.
The Jay County High School girls basketball team had won tournament games at Huntington North. But they had never beaten the Vikings on their home floor — until Tuesday.
The Patriots trailed just once early in the first quarter and led by double digits throughout the second half on the way to its 10th win of the season 40-27 over Huntington North.
JCHS (10-4), which had lost 46-44 and 74-70 in its previous two trips to Huntington, earned the victory over its former Olympic Athletic Conference rival on the strength of its defense. It limited the Vikings to just 29 percent shooting and held an opponent to fewer than 30 points for the fifth time this season.
“I thought our defense was awful good this evening,” said Jay County coach Chris Krieg, whose team allows just 36 points per game.
“This is a first for us, and I’m proud of our girls.”
The Patriots trailed 2-1 early in the opening period, but took the lead for good when Mariah Hornaday and Maria Murphy scored back-to-back baskets off of Catherine Dunn assists. Tiffany Huelskamp added a 3-pointer from another Dunn assist as they extended the lead to six points by the end of the first quarter, and JCHS led 25-13 after Alex Loy connected on a pair of free throws with no time left in the first half.
“I thought Tiffany Huelskamp played really well,” said Krieg of the senior. “She came out in the first half and hit a huge three for us and helped us build a lead.”
Fellow senior Kassi Hemmelgarn shot 5-of-9 from the field and hit a 3-pointer as she led the Patriots with 13 points.
“Kassi is a huge part of our program being successful this year,” Krieg said. “She’s playing with confidence.”
Jay County was also typically strong inside, going 7-of-8 from two-point range in the first half. Murphy and Hornaday finished with nine and six points respectively.
Hornaday also had a game-high eight rebounds to lead the Patriots to a 25-17 advantage on the glass.
“They outworked us,” said Huntington North coach BreAnne Dyer, whose team dropped to 2-9. “Their girls really played hard and we had some moments where our girls weren’t on the same page. It’s frustrating.”
The Vikings scored the first basket of the second half to close the gap to 11 points, but never got any closer. Hemmelgarn scored eight of her 13 points in the final period as JCHS put the game away.
Senior Taylor Pursifull finished with nine points and six rebounds to lead Huntington North. Jericho Parrett, also a senior, followed with six points.
Jay County limited Allyson Trout, the Vikings’ leading scorer, to just four points on 1-of-10 from the field.
“All-in-all I thought we did a great job on Trout,” said Krieg. “She takes (more than a quarter of) their shots, and she had four points. So we did a great job on her.”

Junior varsity
Jay County never found a groove on the offensive end, scoring no more than six points in any quarter in a 26-14 loss to the Vikings.
Bre McIntire scored 10 points for the Patriots, who trailed just 6-4 at the intermission before being outscored 10-2 in the third quarter. Katlin Petro scored the other four JCHS points, all in the second quarter.
Maddie Klender and Kayla Patrick each finished with nine points for Huntington North. Aly Grabner chipped in six points.[[In-content Ad]]