Patriots battered

FORT WAYNE — Tuesday’s game is one the Patriots would like to forget as soon as possible. Unfortunately there were consequences they will have to deal with for a while, and perhaps the entire season.
Falling 63-25 to the Fort Wayne South Side Archers, Jay County High School’s girls basketball team endured its worst defeat in seven years. And in the process, it lost a starter to multiple injuries that may end her high school career.
Less than five minutes into the game, senior Danielle Link chased South Side’s DeJoyah Johnson down from behind on a fast break and the two collided under the backboard. Link crumbled to the floor with injuries to her right arm and knee, and remained there for several minutes before being helped up and rolled to the sideline in a wheel chair.
At the end of the first quarter Link left South Side for the hospital, where JCHS coach Chris Krieg said X-rays showed she had a broken arm. The extent of her knee injury, which was to be re-evaluated today, was not known at press time.
Although the game was scoreless at the time Link went down — Johnson split the ensuing free throws for the first points of the contest — Krieg said the injury took a mental toll on his squad. She averaged 5.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game last season.
“From that point on, it was like it was over,” said Krieg. “It was 0-0 at that point, even though we had turned the ball over (12 times in the first quarter). … We had opportunities, and from that point on it was just downhill.”
The Patriots seem to be snake-bitten when it comes to injuries.
They lost Cara Garringer to a season-ending knee injury in last year’s opener against South Side, and she re-injured the same knee during the offseason. She did not play Tuesday after straining her knee in Jay County’s scrimmage against Carroll, and is “day-to-day”.
Katie Butcher also suffered a season-ending knee injury last season during a December practice.
When Link left Tuesday’s game, the Patriots already had fellow post player Mariah Hornaday on the bench with two fouls. Five other players each picked up a pair of first-half fouls, forcing Krieg to go heavily to its bench.
“I don’t want to take anything away from my girls, but I know that Jay County wasn’t (at full strength),” said South Side coach Juanita Goodwell. “One of their starters was out … and then one of their main players goes out. … I know that they weren’t as strong as they could have been.”The Archers (1-0) outscored Jay County 10-0 over the final 3:01 of the opening period and never looked back. They were up 33-12 at halftime and scored the first eight points of the third quarter.
After going scoreless for the first 4:59 of the game, South Side found its groove and shot better than 50 percent from the field the rest of the way. It got to the foul line 31 times and shot 81 percent, outscoring the Patriots 25-6 on free throws.
Ariana Simmons paced the Archers, going 6-of-7 from the field and hitting all of her eight free-throw attempts for 21 points. Lynnia Noel hit six free throws as part of a 10-point effort, and Brittany Johnson scored five of her eight points at the line.
“We did some great things last year, but there were obviously some shortfalls and that’s what we focused on in the offseason,” said Goodwell, whose team won 15 games and the sectional title last season. “And free throws were one of them. We’ve really been focusing on that.”
JCHS (0-1) struggled to find any offensive rhythm against the Archers, turning the ball over 22 times in the first half and 35 for the game. They had only three first-quarter field-goal attempts, one of which was blocked.
“Everything that we’ve worked on for the last week, we did not do. And that’s frustrating,” said Krieg. “Fort Wayne South is one of the best teams we’ll see all year long. … We had to do things right. Our fundamentals were not very good this evening. Without the right fundamentals, you’re not going to beat good teams.
“When you have that many turnovers, you’re not going to win many ball games.”
Jay County finished the game shooting just 23 percent from the field. Mariah Hornaday grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and led the Patriots with eight points.
Katie Butcher added six points on a pair of 3-pointers.
South Side had dropped the last two season-opening games between the two squads, but held JCHS to its lowest scoring output in more than a decade. It was the Patriots’ worst loss since falling 74-23 to Connersville in the final game of the 2003-04 regular season.
“If you break down the game tonight, I’m not happy with our offense, and we have a lot of work there,” said Goodwell. “But defensively, this team is hungry. This team is aggressive, they’re after it and they want it.”
The Patriots will have a chance to get back on track Friday when they host Muncie Southside. They have beaten the Rebels by at least 30 points in each of the last four meetings.[[In-content Ad]]