Jay finds way in 4th

Something finally clicked.
Tuesday’s first half was loaded with turnovers. And a 9-2 run by visiting Richmond had the Patriots, who have struggled to score during the last month, trailing by six early in the final period.
But a couple of 3-pointers sparked the Jay County High School girls basketball team. It once again looked like the team that went 7-3 in the first half of the season as it finished the game on a 17-1 run for a 45-35 victory over the Red Devils.
“We talked a lot in the last few days about intensity,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team had lost three of four but has now put together back-to-back victories over plus-.500 opponents. “There’s a huge difference between playing hard and playing intense. … You’ve got to play with a purpose. … We had that mindset today.
“Tonight we played with a ton of confidence.”
Richmond (10-8) seemed in control Tuesday after Kim Demmings’ steal and hoop early in the fourth quarter finished off her team’s 9-2 run for a 34-28 lead. But Erin Hunt hit her third 3-pointer of the game with 6:06 on the clock, and then assisted on a triple by Kassi Hemmelgarn.
Demmings turned the ball over on the ensuing Red Devil possession, and Hemmelgarn drove to the hole for a lay-up to give JCHS (10-6) the lead for good.
“You’ve got to give Jay County credit,” said Richmond coach Casey Pohlenz. “They hung with it. We had the tempo in our favor, and they hit big shots. … We got frustrated and momentum went in their favor.
“We missed a couple shots, they made a couple threes. It changed the whole game around.”
The Patriots went on to rack up 15 straight points before Richmond, which missed nine fourth-quarter free throws, finally broke the streak on a foul shot by Kelly Demmings with 41 seconds left.
Hunt finished 3-of-4 from 3-point range and led the Patriots with 11 points. Hemmelgarn scored seven of her 10 points in the fourth quarter.
“Erin can shoot the basketball,” said Krieg, whose team shot 52 percent from the field overall. “There is no doubt about it. … I’m proud of her tonight. She stepped up and hit some shots, some big shots, when we were struggling.”
Neither team was great from the foul line, but Richmond’s struggles were debilitating in the final period. The Red Devils missed nine foul shots in the fourth quarter, three of which came on the front end of one-and-one opportunities.
They shot just 12-of-23 (52 percent) from the line for the game and 10-of-43 (23 percent) from the field.
“We shot the ball awful, I thought, all night, from everywhere,” said Pohlenz. “We couldn’t buy a bucket. Good shots, bad shots, it didn’t matter. We couldn’t get anything to fall.”
Jay County shot 52 percent from the field and dominated the glass (35-20), but was held back because of turnovers. It gave the ball away 16 times in the first half and 25 for the game.
Cara Garringer helped get the offense flowing as she recorded five of her six assists in the second half. She also had seven points and seven rebounds, and Mariah Hornaday totaled seven points and 11 boards.
The Patriots cleared the 40-point barrier for the first time since a 53-28 victory Dec. 9 over Frankton. They have held 10 teams to fewer than 40 points this year, and rank eighth in Class 4A with a defensive average of 36.6.
Kim Demmings finished with a game-high 20 points for Richmond, but she was held scoreless for the final seven minutes of the game.
“That’s a credit to Jay County’s defense,” said Pohlenz. “They took away the driving lanes. And when we’re not hitting shots, it’s tough to play. We tried to do some stuff we some high screens, and we couldn’t seem to get the corner turned. And when we had open shots we just couldn’t seem to hit them.”
Demmings also grabbed five rebounds, and Megan Caudill finished with six points and five boards.

Junior varsity
Jay County dominated the first quarter on the way to a 30-19 victory over the Red Devils.
LeAnn Horn scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in the second half for the Patriots, who shut out Richmond in the first quarter. Megan Sawyer added seven points.
Brooklyn Taylor finished with six points to lead the Red Devils. Bri Walker scored four points.[[In-content Ad]]