Patriots dominate Mississinewa

GAS CITY — The Patriots have put the season opener well in their rearview mirror.
Forcing turnovers early and often, the Jay County High School girls basketball team rolled to a 55-21 victory Tuesday over the host Mississinewa Indians.
It was the fourth straight road win for the Patriots, who lost at home in their first game of the year by 21 to Fort Wayne South Side.
“When you start the season out against Fort Wayne South … and then turn around and play on the road, in some tough opponents’ gyms … it’s four wins we needed to have,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team will return home Friday to host Marion (2-3). “I’m proud of the girls.”
While the Patriots’ previous two games were both tight — they won in overtime Friday at Bellmont and rallied from an eight-point, fourth-quarter deficit Saturday at Winchester — their victory over Mississinewa was never in doubt.
Jay County (4-1) dominated the opening minutes on the defensive end, forcing turnovers on each of the first seven Indian possessions. It parlayed those take-aways into a 10-0 lead, with senior LeAnn Horn dishing out a pair of assists in the process.
The Patriots were also ferocious on the glass, grabbing four offensive rebounds before Mississinewa even attempted its first field goal. They went on to grab 14 offensive boards for the game, compared to just 19 defensive boards for the Indians.
“Obviously when you have the size advantage like we had, you have to attack the glass offensively,” said Krieg. “(We want to send) three to the boards every time. And in some cases we go four to the boards.”
Mississinewa (1-4) finally scored its first point on a Lexi Sands free throw with 55 seconds left in the first quarter, and Kim Jones hit its first field goal 37 seconds later. But the home team never closed the gap to fewer than seven points.
Thanks to two Kassi Hemmelgarn hoops late in the second quarter the Patriots had a 21-8 halftime lead, and they went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter to put the game firmly in their grasp.
Hemmelgarn and fellow seniors Mariah Hornaday and Maria Murphy powered Jay County with 13 points apiece.
“They’re competitors. They were our three leading scorers last year, so I expected them to be our three leading scorers again,” said Krieg. “What’s nice is we’ve had a different person leading us in scoring every night … That’s hard to guard. You can’t concentrate on one (player). …
“They’ve got to worry about Mariah, Maria, Kassi, LeAnn … any of those girls can lead us in scoring. … If we get all four of them going, we’re in great shape.”
Hemmelgarn hit a pair of 3-pointers, and Hornaday added one while leading the Patriots with six rebounds.
Murphy was strong around the basket, finishing 6-of-8 from the field. That bumped her field-goal percentage up to 58 percent for the season.
“She really has done a great job … finishing around the basket,” Krieg said. “She’s just got to get her shoulders square to the basket. When she gets her shoulders square to the basket, she doesn’t miss very many of them. … Her game around the basket has been excellent for us this year.”
After Misssissinewa scored the first basket of the second half, Jay County went on its 10-point run with Hornaday contributing four points and Catherine Dunn and Hemmelgarn each going the distance after steals. The Patriots were up by 17 after three quarters and scored the last 14 points of the game for the final margin.
They racked up their 34 second-half points thanks to a 63-percent (14-of-22) shooting effort from the field after hitting for just 28 percent in the opening 16 minutes.
“The first half wasn’t too bad, but we were 6-of-16 from point-blank range,” said Krieg. “The difference in the third quarter was, we hit those. … We’ve got to have those baskets.”
Becca Burchette paced Mississinewa with seven points, and Maddie Edwards had six rebounds.

Junior varsity
The Patriots reached the quarter mark of the season undefeated, dominating the third quarter on the way to a 21-16 victory over Mississinewa.
Bre McIntire led a balanced scoring effort for Jay County, which outscored the Indians 9-0 in the third quarter after the game was tied at halftime. Katlin Petro added five points, and Katie Aker scored four.
Kaylee Scott totaled seven points to pace Mississinewa. Maddie Lennen followed with six.[[In-content Ad]]