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MONROE — In the early going Friday night, the Patriots made one field goal.
And they turned the ball over … and over … and over — six times in the first four minutes.
When they finally stopped giving the ball away, they Adams Central fits.
With a 26-2 run to close the first half, the Jay County High School girls basketball team built a 19-point halftime lead and cruised in the second half for a 66-41 victory over the host Flying Jets.
“I was disappointed with our slow start. I expected to come out and get a quick start,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team bounced back from consecutive losses Dec. 3 to New Castle and Tuesday to Muncie Central after an 8-0 start. “We haven’t been doing a very good job of getting quick starts. We’ve got to come ready to play. …
“I did think once we got going and were able to get a little bit of a lead and get a little more confidence, we were able to just expand the lead from there.”
The six turnovers in the opening four minutes provided Adams Central an offensive spark, but it disappeared after a Haley Stinson 3-pointer midway through the period gave the home team a 9-4 lead.
Freshman Shelby Caldwell led the turnaround for Jay County (9-2, 3-0 Allen County Athletic Conference), which was playing its second consecutive game without starters Abby Wendel and Taylor Homan because of leg injuries, as she finished the opening quarter on a personal 8-0 run. She scored 11 of the Patriots’ 12 first-quarter points on the way to a game-high 19.
“Offensively, we came out really strong, and we have struggled with our offense all year,” said Adams Central coach Cheri Jesionowski, whose team fell to 0-12 overall and 0-4 in the ACAC. “So it was great that we had that intensity. We just couldn’t keep it.
“And we had a hard time containing (Caldwell). She was scoring all their points at the beginning … and then once every else caught on it was just hard to contain. … It was tough.”
Ava Kunkler and Caldwell hit hoops to open the second quarter before Kara Keller, who led the Flying Jets with 18 points, scored to halt a seven-minute Adams Central drought. The home team would not score again until after the intermission as JCHS turned the ball over just twice in the final 12 minutes of the first half.
Jay County took firm control of the game in a span of less than a minute when Lyla Muhlenkamp hit a 3-pointer off of an assist from Kyndal Miller, who then converted a hoop on a pass from Emily Muhlenkamp.
On the next trip down the floor, Briana Muhlenkamp passed to Lyla Muhlenkamp on the left wing. The senior sharpshooter waited a beat, and when the defense gave her too much space she buried her second triple for a 26-11 lead.
Lyla Muhlenkamp finished with four 3-pointers, trailing Caldwell with 16 points.
“And she’s starting to shoot off the dribble a little bit. This is the second game in a row where she’s got a basket off the dribble,” said Comer. “She’s improving. And if she can put the ball on the floor and get a basket it’s just going to make her that much better.”
Ava Kunkler and Caldwell shared the team high of seven rebounds, Britlyn Dues had six and Lyla Muhlenkamp added five. Hanna Ault dished out four assists.
Keller led Adams Central across the board, totaling nine rebounds and four assists to go along with her 18 points. She shot 6-of-9 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line, but the Flying Jets never threatened in the second half.
With the game well in hand Comer went deep to his bench as 12 players grabbed rebounds, 11 had assists and nine scored. Briana Muhlenkamp was among the top reserves with seven points, including a pair of 3-pointers, four rebounds and an assist.
One of those long balls came when she was duped by an early countdown to the end of the half by the Adams Central student section. Thinking the clock was about to expire, she launched a 3-pointer from the top of the key and connected with seven seconds left.
“I thought Briana had a really nice game tonight,” said Comer. “She’s been really practicing well. Her moving down to the JV, and it was her idea to move down to JV, I think really gave her confidence, and she’s brought that to the varsity. She’s got an opportunity here … and she’s made the most of it.”

Junior varsity
Jay County scored at least twice as many points as the Flying Jets in every quarter on the way to a 46-20 victory Friday.
The Patriots, who ran their record to 11-0, built a nine-point lead in the opening quarter and had a 26-10 advantage at halftime. Another 14 points in the third quarter put the game away.
Gwen Omstead paced JCHS with 11 of her game-high 13 points coming in the first half. Audrey Shreve had six points each in the first and third quarters to follow with 12, and Sam Twigg added six.
Adams Central’s Ryan Burris scored six points, all of which came in the opening half.