PHHS edges Jay Co.

Pendleton Heights lived by the three and died by the three. In the end, it paid off.

The Arabians' three fourth-quarter 3-pointers left the Jay County High School girls basketball team needing a triple of its own to force overtime. But Pazia Speed's try from the right side was off the mark, and the Patriots fell to a 33-32 defeat.

The late barrage of 3-pointers helped Pendleton Heights erase a seven-point deficit and push to a 31-28 lead with 2:54 to go.

"In between there, things got a little chilly on our side," said Pendleton Heights coach Shari Doud, whose team managed just seven points in the second and third quarters combined. "We had some kids step up and hit big shots when they counted the most. We hit some free throws when they counted. We picked up our defensive intensity ..."

Jay County (15-6) turned the ball over on its next possession, but Erin Hunt game up with a steal with about a minute to play. That led to a driving score from Speed to pull the Patriots to with in 31-30.

Having committed only two personal fouls, JCHS had to foul five times before putting Mur Hagerman at the line with 27 seconds remaining. She hit both shots to extend the lead back to three points.

Pendleton Heights (16-5) then took advantage of its two fouls to run some time off the clock, but the situation nearly backfired. When Jamie Hubble committed the second of those fouls, Speed launched a 3-point shot and nailed it. But the shot came after the foul and was waved off, leaving the Patriots still down by three with 10.7 seconds to go.

Hunt sent her inbound pass to Speed on the right side, where she was immediately double teamed by Hannah Douglas and Hagerman. Her 3-pointer was not good and although Mariah Hornaday grabbed the rebound and scored, the Arabians were able to run off the final second without inbounding the ball.

"With no timeouts, we had to have a three," said Cummings. "We couldn't risk taking a two. ... When we first came out we thought we could let Pazia (Speed) and Hannah (Ainsworth) work together and then look for Erin (Hunt) in the corner also. But they weren't leaving Hannah, so we wanted to get Pazia free for a three and get the ball in her hands. (The Arabians) did a good job."

Pendleton Heights dominated the first and fourth quarters, getting early 3-pointers from freshman Kenzie Gustin (12 points) and Kelsey Hubble. Both came on assists from Douglas, and the Arabians went on to build a 10-2 lead.

The Patriots' only two first-quarter points came on free throws by Maria Murphy as they shot 0-for-6 from the field and had two turnovers. Their first field goal came on a Hannah Ainsworth 3-pointer with 4:28 on the second-quarter clock.

But from there JCHS took control, scoring 13 consecutive points, including the first eight of the second half.

"Going into most games, we know that people can't stay in front of Pazia Speed. So we want the ball in her hands with someone guarding her man-to-man," said Cummings of his offensive strategy. "They were in their zone, and that zone is hard to crack ... because they're so tall. It was going to be hard ford us to really attack it when they trapped. We wanted to force them to go to man, and when they did got to man in the second and third quarter, we ripped them. They couldn't stay in front of Pazia and Hannah hit some threes in the second quarter. That's what we wanted to get to."

Jay County built a 22-15 lead through three quarters before the Arabians, who shot just 2-of-13 in the second and third quarters, found their outside stroke again. Pendleton Heights pulled to within one on Gustin's third 3-pointer of the game, and took a 28-26 lead on her fourth.

"Good teams do that," said Cummings of the comeback. "A 5-11 freshman shoots the three like that, shoots it well. ... She finally got in a groove and hit a couple."

Douglas trailed Gustin with seven points while also added seven rebounds and five assists.

"Hannah (Douglas), not only can she score, she just creates a lot for other people," said Doud. "She's fast, she can rebound, she's athletic. She's done this several times this year. ... There's been many times this year where she's put her team on her back ..."

Hornaday totaled eight points, seven rebounds and three assists, all team highs, for Jay County. Speed and Ainsworth also totaled eight points.

Junior varsity

The Patriots dominated the second quarter on the way to a 23-18 win over Pendleton Heights.

Maria Murphy scored all of her nine points in the first half for Jay County, which blanked the Arabians 11-0 in the second quarter. Mollie May, Hannah Ainsworth and LeAnn Horn each added four points.

Kaylee Arnold hit three 3-pointers to lead Pendleton Heights with nine points. Rachelle Tibbett added seven points, all in the fourth quarter.[[In-content Ad]]