November 10, 2015 at 6:23 p.m.
Tip-off time has arrived
Rays of Insight
It’s basketball time.
While the season openers for the local boys teams are still several weeks away — the Patriots start may be pushed back because of opening opponent Winchester’s sectional football title, and Fort Recovery is also hoping for a deep run on the gridiron — the girls don’t waste any time.
Jay County will tip off its season Thursday at Monroe Central. The Patriots will have seven games — nearly a third of their season — complete by the end of the month.
With each new season comes excitement and anticipation, and that’s especially true for the JCHS girls as they try to build off on a strong 2014-15 campaign.
The Patriots had suffered back-to-back losing seasons for the first time in more than a decade before bouncing back to win their first six games last year. They added a seven-game winning streak later in the season and advanced to the sectional championship game before falling to eventual Class 4A state runner-up Homestead.
There’s a lot of reason to believe the winning trend can continue despite the fact JCHS lost two of its top three scorers — Catherine Dunn and Bre McIntire — to graduation. Three of those reasons are returning starters Abby Wendel, Ava Kunkler and Taylor Homan.
Wendel and Kunkler, both seniors, are coming off of a record-setting volleyball season and provide the Patriots with a strong pair of leaders. The former is the team’s top returning scorer, having averaged 9.3 points per game last season. The latter was its top rebounder last season, grabbing 6.3 boards per game to go along with 4.5 points.
Homan will be one of the players key to replacing the scoring production lost to graduation. The junior averaged 6.6 points last season and showed her potential to do much more when she poured in 20 points against Fort Wayne South Side to lead Jay County to the sectional title game.
That trio is back, along with fellow starters Emily Muhlenkamp and Hanna Ault, to lead a team that will be adjusting to its new-old coach.
With Chris Krieg moving on in August to coach the boys program, Kirk Comer returned after a six-year hiatus. He had led Jay County for a five-year stretch ending in 2008-09, winning a sectional title along the way and putting together an undefeated regular season in his final year.
Comer brings a different approach to the game, especially on the defensive end where he likes to throw a lot of different looks at the opposition and use both half- and full-court pressure. His goal is to force turnovers and try to get easy points in the transition game.
It will be interesting to see how the Patriots evolve throughout the season as the players get used to their new coach and Comer learns their strengths and weaknesses.
The potential is there for Jay County to put together a few long winning streaks and match last season’s record of 20 wins.
Thursday we get to start seeing the Patriots fulfill it.
While the season openers for the local boys teams are still several weeks away — the Patriots start may be pushed back because of opening opponent Winchester’s sectional football title, and Fort Recovery is also hoping for a deep run on the gridiron — the girls don’t waste any time.
Jay County will tip off its season Thursday at Monroe Central. The Patriots will have seven games — nearly a third of their season — complete by the end of the month.
With each new season comes excitement and anticipation, and that’s especially true for the JCHS girls as they try to build off on a strong 2014-15 campaign.
The Patriots had suffered back-to-back losing seasons for the first time in more than a decade before bouncing back to win their first six games last year. They added a seven-game winning streak later in the season and advanced to the sectional championship game before falling to eventual Class 4A state runner-up Homestead.
There’s a lot of reason to believe the winning trend can continue despite the fact JCHS lost two of its top three scorers — Catherine Dunn and Bre McIntire — to graduation. Three of those reasons are returning starters Abby Wendel, Ava Kunkler and Taylor Homan.
Wendel and Kunkler, both seniors, are coming off of a record-setting volleyball season and provide the Patriots with a strong pair of leaders. The former is the team’s top returning scorer, having averaged 9.3 points per game last season. The latter was its top rebounder last season, grabbing 6.3 boards per game to go along with 4.5 points.
Homan will be one of the players key to replacing the scoring production lost to graduation. The junior averaged 6.6 points last season and showed her potential to do much more when she poured in 20 points against Fort Wayne South Side to lead Jay County to the sectional title game.
That trio is back, along with fellow starters Emily Muhlenkamp and Hanna Ault, to lead a team that will be adjusting to its new-old coach.
With Chris Krieg moving on in August to coach the boys program, Kirk Comer returned after a six-year hiatus. He had led Jay County for a five-year stretch ending in 2008-09, winning a sectional title along the way and putting together an undefeated regular season in his final year.
Comer brings a different approach to the game, especially on the defensive end where he likes to throw a lot of different looks at the opposition and use both half- and full-court pressure. His goal is to force turnovers and try to get easy points in the transition game.
It will be interesting to see how the Patriots evolve throughout the season as the players get used to their new coach and Comer learns their strengths and weaknesses.
The potential is there for Jay County to put together a few long winning streaks and match last season’s record of 20 wins.
Thursday we get to start seeing the Patriots fulfill it.
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