Senior group to lead Jay girls
Senior group to lead Jay girls
It’s not always about what’s lost, but what’s coming back.
The Jay County High School girls basketball team will begin its season Friday night at home against Alexandria-Monroe without one of its leading scorers from a year ago, and the best defender on the squad.
“We lost two very good players,” JCHS coach Kirk Comer said of Hanna Ault and Briana Muhlenkamp. Ault, who was second in scoring (14.1 points per game) and rebounds (4.6 RPG), graduated and now plays for Anderson University. Briana Muhlenkamp, who led the team with nearly three steals a game, was also a 2018 graduate.
“They were both great leaders,” Comer continued. “They just filled their roles tremendously.
“They were great team players. To me, chemistry is very important. The team chemistry, which was led by them, was really good last year. We need this year’s group of seniors to carry that over and lead like they did.”
Shelby Caldwell highlights that six-member senior group, and she is coming off a year during which she scored 15.1 points per game and hauled in eight rebounds per game, both team highs. She was also second on the team in 3-pointers made (36), five behind Ault.
“Shelby is working hard and we’re going to look to get Shelby the ball a lot more on the block this year than on the perimeter,” Comer said. “She still can step out and shoot the three if need be.”
Kendra Muhlenkamp, Briana’s sister, averaged nine points and 4.1 rebounds per game. As the returning point guard, she’ll facilitate the offense, whether driving to the basket for a layup or dishing to a teammate. She averaged 3.3 assists per game as a junior. She was 69 percent (46-of-67) from the free-throw line.
Although Muhlenkamp was credited with more than five turnovers per game last year, Comer said she’s gotten a lot better at making decisions.
“Sometimes she just gets going a little faster than she needs to,” he said. “But she’s so athletic you want to be careful about holding her back because you don’t want to take away that athletic ability that she has to create.
“We’re trying to find the happy medium there.”
The other seniors are guards Hannah Phillips (3.6 PPG) and Hanna Dillon (2.8 PPG) and forwards Kendal Garringer and Clare Dirksen. Phillips and Dillon played in all 25 games as juniors, while Garringer and Dirksen saw action in 24 and 23 contests respectively.
Their minutes are expected to go up this year.
Comer hopes Dillon will be more aggressive attacking the basket this year; he wants Phillips, who was third on the team with a dozen made 3-pointers last season, to shoot more often; and he is looking for Garringer and Dirksen to continue their scrappiness on the court.
“If the ball is on the floor they’re going to get it,” he said. “They do a lot of things to help us be successful that doesn’t show up in the stats. They’re both very important to this team and I see them doing a lot of dirty work in order for us to be successful.”
The Patriots, who swept the Allen County Athletic Conference during the regular season last year but lost to South Adams in the tournament final, get Hallie Fields back at forward after she missed her sophomore year with a shoulder injury.
Jay County also has junior Macey Weitzel, freshman Madison Dirksen and sophomore Aubrie Schwieterman at forwards, and freshman Izzy Rodgers at guard. Rodgers’ year is uncertain after she suffered a knee injury.
“A lot of it is, as you know, you see them in practice every day but until you get out there and play in a game situation you don’t really know how they’re going to react,” Comer said. “Some of them might practice really well then not be able to handle the game situation as well.
“Once we see a few games we’ll be able to tell where we’re at with those girls.”
Problem is, Jay County’s schedule is front-loaded with state powerhouses.
After Friday’s home game against Alexandria, Jay County travels to take on Class 2A No. 2 Oak Hill before hosting Bellmont, which finished 11th in the Class 3A preseason poll, three days later.
On Nov. 17 Jay County hosts Winchester, the top-ranked team in Class 2A and state runner-up a year ago, and 10 days after that it hosts former sectional rival Homestead, which is second in Class 4A.
“Our schedule is tough,” said Comer, whose team has three straight road games at New Castle (Nov. 29), South Side (Dec. 1) and Muncie Central (Dec. 4). “It doesn’t get any easier, but I like that. I like the challenges. I like having to prepare.
“What can we do to give us the advantage against someone that may be more talented than we are?”
