JC fades in fourth

Most of the Patriots’ games have been close.
They have leads in the second half, even into the fourth quarter.
But they’ve struggled to close out victories.
Another potential win slipped away Thursday as host Jay County managed just two points in the final five minutes of a 36-27 loss to the Kokomo Wildkats.
“The bottom line is, it’s fundamentals. Our fundamentals of basketball, at times, aren’t very good,” said Krieg, whose team committed 20 turnovers. “We get careless. I don’t know how many passes that hit our hands, we dropped. …
“The turnovers hurt us. … But what really killed us was the fact that we missed the front end of one-and-one free throws.”
Jay County (4-8) had a three-point lead in the fourth quarter and had a chance to extend that advantage when Katie Aker went to the foul line for a one-and-one opportunity with 5:25 remaining. But her first free-throw try missed, and after a timeout Jasmine Love buried a 3-pointer to tie the game.
Catherine Dunn missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity on the next Patriot possession, and Kendra Ryker responded with another triple that gave Kokomo the lead for good.
“Jasmine Love had shot the ball well in the first half, and then we didn’t get her opportunities very well in the second half. So we set something up for her and she was able to knock down that third three,” said Wildkats coach Jason Snyder, whose team improved to 7-4. “That was definitely huge momentum.”
Kokomo went on to score nine straight points with the Patriots missing another front end on a one-and-one opportunity during the stretch. Dunn ended a JCHS scoring drought of more than four minutes when she came up with a steal and lay-up to close the gap to a 31-27 with 1:38 to play.
But the Wildkats scored the final five points of the game to finish off the win.
“We just didn’t hit the free throws,” said Krieg. “We didn’t block out very well. And we didn’t catch a lot of passes.”
In addition to going 0-for-3 at the foul line in the fourth quarter and 3-of-9 for the game, Jay County committed 12 second-half turnovers. It gave up 14 offensive rebounds, with many of those leading to second-chance opportunities in the fourth quarter.
Love paced Kokomo with 13 points as she hit three 3-pointers and all of her four free-throw attempts. Ryker added eight points.
The Wildkats got a huge lift off the bench from senior Stephanie Helmer. She grabbed all of her team-high seven rebounds in the second half and scored four points in the fourth quarter.
“She did an excellent job, especially in the second half getting major rebounds, getting us second-chance opportunities with offensive rebounds,” said Snyder. “She also did an excellent job down the stretch with getting some defensive rebounds and then hitting some free throws.
“She really stepped up and helped us out.”
Dunn matched Love with 13 points for the Patriots, who were up 13-12 at the half before giving up a 6-0 run to open the third quarter. JCHS fought back to tie the game at the end of the third and pulled ahead on Dunn’s third 3-pointer of the game at the 5:58 mark of the fourth, but then went the next four minutes without a point.
Bre McIntire followed Dunn with seven points and a game-high eight rebounds. Loy added five points, and Ava Kunkler grabbed five rebounds.
Previously this season, Jay County lost games in which it had a 10-point lead in the second half over Muncie Central and an eight-point advantage in the fourth quarter over Marion. The Patriots were tied with Winchester with 1:45 to play and within a possession against Fort Recovery with less than three minutes to play before fading late.
Krieg said his team needs to “limit turnovers in second half, make free throws and box out. If we can improve on those three things these next eight games, we’re going to be OK. But we’ve got to do that.”

Junior varsity
Jay County went without a field goal in the final period as the Wildkats pulled away for a 28-16 victory.
Lyla Muhlenkamp hit a pair of second-quarter 3-pointers as she totaled six points to lead the Patriots, who were outscored 7-1 in the final period. Kai-Li Baughman followed with five points, and Abby Wendel scored four.
Sieara Langley scored 11 points, including all nine for Kokomo in the second quarter. Quaynika Merriweather, Gabrielle Smith and Mykayla Fowler each added four points.[[In-content Ad]]