Offense premium in Jay win

PARKER CITY — Jay County’s first three shots were blocked. The Golden Bears opened with two misses and a turnover.
The offense for both teams eventually got better, but points remained a premium all night. So the Patriots used a stingy stretch of first-half defense to turn the game in their favor.
Jay County held host Monroe Central scoreless for a 13-minute stretch in the opening half Friday and fought off a Golden Bears comeback try for a 35-28 victory.
“I think we bounced back well after Tuesday night,” said senior Katie Aker, referencing her team’s 66-37 season-opening loss to Class 4A No. 10 Fort Wayne South Side. “That was a tough loss.
“We only had 11 turnovers, which helped us a lot. We executed well.”
The slow start left the Patriots trailing 2-1 early, but the defense quickly turned the tide.
A hoop by Bre McIntire off of an Abbi Dunlavy assist allowed Jay County (1-1) to extend its full-court pressure, resulting in a series of turnovers for the Golden Bears. The Patriots turned those miscues into points with Catherine Dunn burying a 3-pointer from another Dunlavy assist and Aker adding a fast-break hoop off a pass from Ava Kunkler.
After shutting out Monroe Central (0-1) for the final 5:32 of the first quarter, JCHS kept the defensive pressure on. It extended the scoreless streak to 13:01 — the Golden Bears missed 16 consecutive field-goal attempts during the stretch — before Lexus Hosier finally hit a hoop 29 seconds before halftime.
“I was proud of our defensive effort,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team held Monroe Central to 10 percent shooting in the first half. “We played extremely hard. We got a lot of deflections, got some steals early.”
With Mikaela McGrath (13 points, 12 rebounds) leading the way, the Golden Bears fought their way back into the game after the intermission.
Monroe Central had possession trailing 22-16 late in the third quarter, but turned the ball over. McGrath committed her fourth foul on the ensuing Patriot possession, sending her to the bench while Jay County built its lead back to double digits.
“That was huge,” said Monroe Central coach Jeff Tharp of the turnover/foul combination. “She was standing there, and the foul came to her. She didn’t do anything exceptionally wrong. If that’s her first foul, we don’t think anything about that foul. It was devastating because it was her fourth foul.”
Monroe Central got back within five again when McGrath returned to the court, but they could get no closer. Aker responded with a three-point play, and the Golden Bears were unable to threaten again.
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Aker grabbed five rebounds in the first five minutes of the game en route to a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.
“What Katie brings to us is strength,” said Krieg. “When she’s in position and can just drop-step and power it up, she’s pretty good because she’s so strong. … She played extremely hard tonight, and I’m proud of her.”
McIntire followed with seven points for the Patriots, and Catherine Dunn scored six. Kunkler grabbed eight rebounds.
McGrath scored eight of her game-high 13 points for the Golden Bears during the third quarter. She also had a pair of blocks.
Emmarae Roberts added seven points.
Despite the loss to the only Class 4A school on his team’s schedule, Tharp expressed excitement about the future with the sophomore duo leading the squad in scoring.
“We can build stuff around that,” he said. “They’re sophomores. They’re young kids. They’re going to be around for a while.
“We know we’re going to have some deficiencies, but once we got our feet under us it was pretty fun to watch.”

Junior varsity
Jay County built a lead in the opening half and held on for a 22-21 victory Friday over the Golden Bears.
The Patriots (2-0) rolled out to an 11-2 lead in the opening quarter and then shut out Monroe Central in the second. The home team fought back after the break, but JCHS walked away with its second one-point win in as many games.
Gabby Hart scored seven points to power Jay County, which outscored the Golden Bears 9-4 at the free-throw line. Britlyn Dues and Lyla Muhlenkamp added four points apiece.
Kaitlyn Clifford finished with five points to lead Monroe Central.

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