Squaws beat Jay

In 32 minutes of play, the Patriots made just one shot from outside of five feet.
Jay County High School’s girls basketball missed all of its 20 three-point attempts Friday, unable to hit anything from the outside to help clear space in the post. Mariah Hornaday still finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds, but it was not enough.
The visiting Bellmont Squaws, thanks to strong free-throw shooting in the first half and some big hoops from Madison Schultz in the fourth quarter, knocked off the Patriots 39-34.
“If we can’t make a shot outside of five feet, we’re not going to win,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg. “That’s what it comes down to.”
“Right now, anybody who is watching us is going to play us zone and say, ‘Beat us from the outside.’”
Despite the difficulties from long range, the Patriots (1-2) had the lead after Hornaday scored on a put-back basket with just over three minutes remaining.
But Schultz scored three of the next four Bellmont hoops as the Squaws stretched the lead to seven points. JCHS got back to within three in the final minute before Mikala Quinn hit a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to seal the win.
Schultz finished 7-of-12 from the field to lead the win with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half. She also had five rebounds.
“I thought they did a pretty good job on her in the first half, and we probably didn’t look to her as much as we should have,” said BHS coach Tory Fuelling. “But she started to get a lot deeper position there in the second half and she got some easy baskets for us.”
Free throws were key to the victory for Bellmont, which shot just 3-of-18 from the field in the first half. To make up for those misses, it hit 15-of-18 free throws and had a one-point lead at the break.
Dana Kaczmarek (11 points) made 7-of-8 free throws, and Payton Schultz hit all of her six attempts as the Squaws outscored JCHS 17-4 at the line.
“That’s excellent,” said Fuelling of his team’s free-throw effort. “I’ll take that any day.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight, and that’s the second game in a row we haven’t shot it very well. But I thought we were more aggressive tonight, taking the ball to the basket. And then we got them in some foul trouble.”
Four Jay County players had two fouls in the first half, including three in the first quarter.The Squaws were in the bonus less than seven minutes into the game, and reached the double bonus with 5:29 on the clock in the second quarter.
“It goes back to defense,” said Krieg. “We’re reaching, slapping, instead of sliding our feet and keeping the ball in front.
“We were chasing our man around. We weren’t doing the stuff we work on every day. … They’re trying to do it the right way … but this is a new system for them defensively.”
Hornaday dominated the paint in the first half to the tune of 12 points and nine boards. But with the lack of outside shooting to help open up the defense, Bellmont’s zone sagged back to take away the inside.
“I thought we played some really good defense tonight,” said Fuelling. “They weren’t hitting outside shots, so we were content with sitting back in a zone and trying to help cover up Hornaday inside because she hurt us in the first half. We tried to pack it in a little bit more and help on her, and I thought we did a much better job of that in the second half. We were leaving some open shooters, but luckily they weren’t making them.”
Kassi Hemmelgarn and Maria Murphy were the only Patriots to score other than Hornaday, each finishing with eight points. Katie Butcher and Murphy each grabbed five rebounds, and Erin Hunt had three assists.

Junior varsity
 Jay County limited the Squaws to two points in the third quarter to open a double-digit lead on the way to a 36-27 victory.
LeAnn Horn scored nine points to lead the Patriots (2-1), who outscored Bellmont 18-8 in the middle two quarters. Mollie May followed with seven points, and Emily Devoe and Shelby Shirk each added six.
Audrey Schultz paced the Squaws with a game-high 11 points. Ashley Piper finished with five points.[[In-content Ad]]