Winner in Winchester

WINCHESTER — The Patriots seem to have taken their opening loss as an affront to their defensive identity.
Since giving up 66 points in a loss to Fort Wayne South Side, they have held three straight opponents to fewer than 30. And Saturday night in Randolph County, they added their most efficient offensive effort on the young season for a blowout victory.
Jay County blanked the Winchester Golden Falcons in the third quarter, dominated the glass and had four players score in double figures as they rolled to a 54-26 win.
“In game one, we played one good quarter … Game two, we played two good quarters. And last night I felt like we played three really good quarters,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg. “Tonight I felt like we played well for four quarters of basketball.”
After giving up eight points in a span of about four minutes in the opening quarter, the Patriots (3-1) put the defensive clamps on Winchester (0-3). They shut out the Golden Falcons over the next five minutes, scoring 12 consecutive points to take the lead for good.
Life on the offensive end of the floor only got more difficult for Winchester in the third quarter, when the visitors limited them to just three field-goal attempts — all misses — while forcing 10 turnovers.
“We’re talking a lot more, I feel like,” said Patriot sophomore Abby Wendel. “We just all work well together.”
The game continued a pattern for both teams.
Jay County, which forced 24 turnovers, limited Bellmont to 20 points in a victory Friday, and held Monroe Central scoreless for a stretch of more than 13 minutes in a victory Nov. 15. Meanwhile, the Golden Falcons have yet to score 30 points in a game.
“It’s been that way all three games,” said Winchester coach Ed Geesaman, whose team lost leading scorer Hayley Myers to a knee injury in a 44-20 loss Friday at Tri. “Yeah, we had (24) turnovers, but you know what, give the credit to Jay County. They’re quick.”
In addition to taking possessions away from the Golden Falcons via turnovers, the Patriots got extra chances for themselves with their work on the glass.
They finished with more offensive rebounds (18) than Winchester had defensive boards (16) as sophomore Ava Kunkler grabbed nine to lead the effort.
And it was an offensive rebound that started JCHS on its first big run after it led just 9-8 in the opening quarter with leading scorer Catherine Dunn on the bench with two fouls.
Abby Wendel pulled down a rebound, went back up, scored and was fouled. She hit the ensuing free throw, and on the next possession buried a 3-pointer off an assist from Taylor Homan.
Abbi Dunlavy, Bre McIntire and Dunn each added two points for a 12-0 run as the Patriots took control.
Wendel finished an efficient 4-of-5 from the field while hitting all four of her free-throw attempts for a game-high 13 points.
“I just played as hard as I could, and I had some open shots so I took them,” said Wendel of her career-best scoring effort. “I had that one open three and I was like, ‘OK, I’ll shoot it.’ And it went in.”
Katie Aker scored five points during the third quarter as she and McIntire followed Wendel with 11 apiece. Dunn hit a pair of 3-pointers as she also reached double figures with 10 points.
“And last night, we had Taylor Homan in double digits,” said Krieg of the freshman, who had 11 points in the win over Bellmont and six against Winchester. “So there’s five girls that you’ve got to worry about night in and night out. That makes us hard to guard.”
Homan added five rebounds and three assists. McIntire grabbed five boards, and Dunn also had three assists.
Sophomore Mariah Roberts set the pace for Winchester with nine points. Freshman Liz Pegg had seven points, and senior center Delaney Miller totaled six points and four rebounds.
“We’re going to get better off of this,” said Geesaman. “That’s what it’s all about is getting better for tournament time.
“I like playing Jay County because they show us our weakness.”

Junior varsity
Like their varsity counterparts, the Patriots shut out Winchester in the third quarter on the way to a 21-5 victory.
Cheyenne Loy scored five of her game-high seven points in the third quarter as Jay County outscored the Golden Falcons 9-0. Britlyn Dues followed with four points, and Audrey Shreve scored three.
Sarah Mallory and Miranda Winningham each had two points for Winchester, which went without a field goal in the second half.[[In-content Ad]]