Senior-less JC opens Tuesday

Teams often rely on senior leadership.
The Patriots don’t have any.
The Jay County High School girls basketball team, which had five seniors a year ago, enters this season without a single member of the class of 2013 on the squad.
“It’s kind of unusual,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team will open its season at Fort Wayne South Side on Tuesday. “That’s where the summer schedule comes into play, because that’s where you’ve got to do your teaching. … You’ve got to prepare in the summer time.”
A quick review of the numbers from last season shows where the 2012 senior class will be most missed — the scoring column.
The Patriots averaged 41.7 points per game a year ago, with nearly 28 per game coming from seniors Maria Murphy (10.4), Kassi Hemmelgarn (10.1) and Mariah Hornaday (7.3). LeAnn Horn, another 2012 graduate, chipped in another 3.7 points.
The top returning scorer for JCHS is sophomore Catherine Dunn, who averaged 4.2 points per game while serving as the team’s defensive stopper during her freshman season.
“I told the girls this summer, from day one till now, our biggest fear is scoring,” Krieg said. “Obviously between Maria, Mariah and Kassi … they gave us the bulk of points throughout the year. I’m hoping these young girls will step up.”
Dunn will be looked upon to take the lead in that respect as she also runs the offense from the point guard position. In addition to being the team’s returning leader in points, she also averaged a team-best 1.4 steals per game last season to go along with 2.3 assists (second to Hemmelgarn’s 2.8) and 2.0 rebounds.
“Catherine Dunn might be as skilled as an all-around player as I’ve been around,” said Krieg. “She’s got quickness. She handles the ball well. … And she’s worked at her game.
“Obviously we’re going to rely a lot on Catherine as far as handling the pressure. And she’s going to look to score a lot more than she did last year, because she’s got to.”
While offense is a concern — Alex Loy is the No. 2 returning scorer after averaging 3.0 points per game last season — Krieg believes his defense will be strong again. The Patriots allowed just 39.9 points per game last season, and held five opponents to fewer than 30.
“Our defense was awful good this summer,” Krieg said. “We communicate well. The girls do a great job of keeping the ball in front (of them).”
Abbi Dunlavy and Loy, both juniors, will join Dunn in the starting lineup in the guard slots. Junior Katie Aker and sophomore Bre McIntire will play in the post, and junior Amber Huelskamp will be the first player off the bench.
Those are the only Patriots who are locked into the varsity rotation as two players Krieg expected to fill out his top eight will not be available to start the year. Mikayla Gross was injured in a car accident in August and could miss the entire season, and Katlin Petro is still recovering from an illness that also plagued her throughout the golf season in the fall.
So the remaining minutes will be split between junior varsity players Gabby Hart, Lyla Muhlenkamp and Ava Kunkler, who are all freshmen.
“We’ve got to keep things in the 40s to be competitive,” said Krieg of his short bench. “We’ve got to play a certain style against certain teams …
“Obviously we can’t get in foul trouble. We’ve just got to play smart out there.
“I told the girls, we may be calling our timeouts so you can catch your breath.”
The Patriots will be looking to extend their streak of winning seasons to 12, and they know the first half of the schedule will be key to making that happen. After losing their opener to Fort Wayne South Side last season, they won eight of their next nine games.
JCHS went 3-8 in its final 11 games, which included eight Class 4A opponents, and closed the season with five consecutive losses.
Krieg said he hopes his team can build some momentum early and improve throughout the year.
“It’s all about confidence,” he said. “You’ve got to believe.
“The girls, they’ve worked hard. They play well together. They’re very unselfish.
“Our goal is to improve every game and get better and better every practice to do what we have to do to compete.”[[In-content Ad]]