Jay falls in semifinal

HARTFORD CITY — The Patriots got in a bit of a hole in the first quarter.

The Huskies disrupted their offense in the second period while lighting it up at the other end.

In the second half, the Patriots chipped away at the deficit and got as close two possessions in the final three minutes, but could not complete a comeback.

The Jay County High School girls basketball team had its season come to a close Friday with a 57-45 loss in the Class 3A Sectional 24 tournament semifinal to the Hamilton Heights Huskies.

“We were exhausted,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team ends its year at 16-9. “Number one, we had used so much energy. They are so good at spreading the floor out and keeping their spacing.

“We were playing as hard as we could trying to trap them. When they have so much spacing it’s hard to trap because you have so far to go.”

The Huskies (18-7), who are ranked 10th in the state, advance to the sectional championship game at 7:30 p.m. tonight against the Yorktown Tigers, who knocked off New Castle 60-57 in overtime earlier in the evening.

“Just an overall great team win,” said Hamilton Heights coach Keegan Cherry. “We need to stay humble and stay hungry because we’ll have a big challenge (Saturday).”

Cherry and his coaching staff had his players primed to neutralize Jay County junior Shelby Caldwell and senior Hanna Ault, who entered tallying 15.3 and 14.4 points per game. The Huskies made it difficult for the Patriots to get the ball in the hands of their two scorers, and as a result Jay County was scoreless through its first five possessions of the game — three misses and a pair of turnovers

Hamilton Heights led 12-7 after the first quarter before creating space in second with a 14-2 run.

Kayla Kirtley hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to start the spurt, and Lauryn Wiley had a left-side jumper too. Ana Collar had a basket before Kendra Muhlenkamp scored Jay County’s first points of the period with less than four minutes until half.

Lexi Branham scored five consecutive points, including a 3-pointer from the right wing, and Collar had another bucket to make it 26-9 Hamilton Heights with 2:16 remaining.

“The girls just showed poise,” Cherry said. Kirtley led all players with 17 points, and Bayleigh Runner joined her in double figures with 10 points. “They got up into us and we were able to drive the basket. We had girls cutting and wanting the basketball.

“That is something we talked about all year; when we see pressure like that all year everybody has got to want the basketball.”

Caldwell and Ault combined for nine of the Patriots’ 15 points at half — the Huskies led by 11 — and finished with 12 and seven points, respectively.

Hannah Phillips helped pick up some of the slack as she finished with a team- and career-high 16 points, including a dozen from behind the 3-point line.

In the third quarter, she hit a pair of triples, the second of which she banked off the glass from the left wing and made it 36-29 with 1:01 left in the period.

Then, late in the fourth quarter, Phillips swished her fourth 3-pointer — all came from the left side — to make it 47-40 with 2:15 to play.

“I thought she did a really good job,” Comer said. “They left her open at times and she didn’t hesitate, took the shots and knocked them down.

“Hannah is an outstanding shooter. We were trying to get her to shoot all year because she can shoot the ball so well. I was happy for her to take the shots when she was open. She’s going to hit most of them when she’s left open.”

In the fourth quarter, the Huskies didn’t have to rely too much on their offense and set plays as they only made one field goal. The other 16 points in the period came from the free-throw line.

“I had faith in our girls,” Cherry said, noting Jay County was able to come back because he slowed down the tempo to chew clock. “I just liked our chances better by taking a little air out of the basketball and had confidence that we could make free throws down the stretch.”

Hamilton Heights was 16-of-19 from the line in the fourth quarter alone and 18-of-23 for the game.

Friday night marked the final game in a JCHS uniform for Briana Muhlenkamp and Ault, the latter of whom will continue her basketball career at Anderson University.

“In all the years I’ve coached I haven’t had anybody that’s more dedicated and hard working as those two,” Comer said. “They are great kids. We’re going to miss them tremendously.”