JC blasts Indians

By the time Anderson made their first field goal, Kassi Hemmelgarn had already assisted on five for the Patriots.

Hemmelgarn distributed the ball well and Pazia Speed scored 11 first-quarter points Thursday as Jay County opened with an 18-1 run en route to a 61-26 win over the visiting Indians.

After Speed scored the first four points of the game on her own, Hemmelgarn assisted on five of the next six Patriot baskets. She hit Speed, Erin Hunt, Danielle Link, Mariah Hornaday and Maria Murphy for hoops during the opening run before Anderson (1-18) hit its first field goal with 1:19 left on the clock in the first quarter.

"She was aggressive and played with confidence," said JCHS coach Luke Cummings of Hemmelgarn, who finished with seven points and seven assists. "I just thought she did a great job keeping her head up and seeing the court ...

"She's eight or nine games into (being a starter) and she's done a good job adjusting to it."

After falling behind by 18 in the first half, the Indians managed to close back to within 10 points in the second quarter. But Jay County (15-5) closed the first half on an 8-0 run and then opened the second with six straight points.

The Patriots added another 9-0 run bridging the third-quarter break and had the starters on the bench for most of the third quarter.

Speed finished with 17 points and helped Jay County to a 32-16 advantage on the glass with seven rebounds. Danielle Link added 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks, and Mariah Hornaday had nine points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

The game marked the eighth time this season the Patriots have held a team to less than 30 points.

Cummings said his team's experience and comfort level with its base zone defense have allowed it to challenge opponents with different looks.

"Today we played some man," he said. "It's because we don't have to keep reviewing the stuff that we want to be good at. Now we can mix it up and make other teams prepare for some other stuff."

Junior varsity

Jay County rolled out to a 15-4 lead in the opening quarter on the way to a 39-17 win over the Indians.

Shelby Shirk paced the Patriots (14-4) with nine points, and Maria Murphy scored all of her eight points in the first quarter. LeAnn Horn also totaled eight points.

Karlee Campbell paced Anderson with six points.[[In-content Ad]]