JC tops No. 2 Falcons

The things that cost them a victory Friday night turned around for the Patriots 24 hours later.
They executed better defensively and generally stayed out of foul trouble.
They hit a couple of three-point shots. And, even more importantly, they didn’t settle for bombing away from long distance, instead using some good passing to find open teammates near the basket.
A 32-15 advantage on the glass also helped the Jay County High School girls basketball team bounce back from a five-point loss to Bellmont with a 51-39 victory over the visiting Class 2A No. 2 Winchester Golden Falcons.
“It was a huge win for us,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team was in danger of starting 1-3 for the first time since 2000. “I’m proud of all the girls. Everyone who stepped on the floor did what they had to do to help us win.”
The victory snapped Winchester’s 27-game regular-season winning streak. The Golden Falcons (2-1), who were undefeated last season before losing to Austin in the semi-state, had not lost a regular-season game since falling 48-45 to Randolph Southern on Jan. 12, 2009.
It was the first loss for Winchester coach Kirk Comer in the regular season since Jan. 12, 2008 — a span of 44 games. He won the final four games of the 2007-08 season while coaching Jay County, and went 18-0 the next year before taking over at Winchester last season.
“The difference was obviously they were much more ready to play than we were,” said Comer, who coached the Patriots from 2005 through 2009. “You’ve got to give coach Krieg and his girls a lot of credit, because they just out-played us tonight in all aspects of the game.”
After being outscored 17-4 at the foul line Friday, Jay County had a nine-point advantage on free throws against Winchester.
And following an 0-for-20 night from long distance against Bellmont, Katie Butcher connected the Patriots’ first 3-point attempt against the Golden Falcons just over two minutes into the game. But for the most part, JCHS worked for better looks as it took just five shots from behind the arc.
Senior Cara Garringer, still working her way back from a knee injury, saw more minutes and her passing helped open up the offense. She finished with fours assists.
“That’s what Cara brings,” said Krieg. “Cara is going to score as we go along, but the vision of the floor and her basketball IQ just makes us a ton better.”
And Garringer’s four points, on a hoop and two free throws midway through the second quarter, kicked off the game-deciding run. Erin Hunt added a 3-pointer ¬— a big shot after a rough 0-for-11 night Friday — and Kassi Hemmelgarn and Katie Butcher combined to hit three free throws.
Jay County (2-2), which never trailed, added the first four points of the second half to finish off a 14-0 run for a 27-11 advantage. The Golden Falcons went about six minutes without a hoop before Emily Sells finally broke the drought with 6:09 on the clock in the third quarter.
Mariah Hornaday led the Patriots, who got half of their points from the foul line during the 14-0 run, with 14 points. Katie Butcher and Kassi Hemmelgarn each added nine, and Maria Murphy scored eight.
“We have girls that can score, we just hadn’t got them to all go at the same time,” said Krieg, also noting that he was proud of his team’s 19-of-25 (76 percent) effort at the foul line. “To beat good teams, we all have to be on at the same time, and tonight we were.”
Jay County led by as many as 19 before the Golden Falcons were able to create some turnovers with their full-court pressure defense and close the gap. After failing to score more than four points in a row during the first 27 minutes of the game, they went on a 12-4 run to pull within eight.
But Butcher hit two free throws — she finished 6-for-6 at the line — with 1:05 left, and Kassi Hemmelgarn nailed four in the final 33 seconds to secure the victory.
“We played flat for the first three-and-a-half quarters,” said Comer. “We just haven’t played with the intensity that we need to. I thought the last part of the fourth quarter there was the first time that we’ve really seen the intensity that we need this year.”
Winchester fell victim to some of the issues that plagued JCHS Friday. They got into early foul trouble — Ashleigh Maggart and Fraze each had three fouls in the first half — and finished just 3-of-20 (15 percent) from long distance.
The Patriots also dominated the glass, 32-15, with Hornaday and Murphy grabbing eight boards apiece. Hemmelgarn added four rebounds.
“They controlled the boards. That’s been a problem for us,” said Comer. “We’re not big enough to out-jump people, so we’ve got to box out. And we didn’t do a very good job of that tonight, and we paid the price.”
Jill Morrison led the Golden Falcons with 13 points, and Sells had 12 before fouling out in the final minute. They each had four rebounds, and Morrison added three assists.
Also this week, the right knee injury JCHS senior Danielle Link suffered in a collision during the first quarter of the season-opening loss to Fort Wayne South Side was diagnosed as a torn ACL. Because it was torn completely and she can’t do any further damage to the ligament, Link will attempt to return to the team after she recovers from the broken arm she suffered in the same collision. She is expected to miss at least four more weeks.

Junior varsity
Jay County had a six-point lead at the half and then shut out the Golden Falcons in the third quarter as it improved to 3-1 with a 24-18 victory.
Mollie May and Megan Sawyer each scored five points for the Patriots, who led 14-8 at the half and posted a 3-0 advantage in a defensive third quarter. LeAnn Horn finished with four points.
Hayley Myers paced Winchester with seven points, and Delaney Miller added four.[[In-content Ad]]