Pair of seniors powers JC

Possession one: Shelby Caldwell 3-pointer from the left wing.

Possession two: Caldwell 3-pointer from near the top of the key.

Timeout Woodlan.

Caldwell wouldn’t make another shot from long distance, but she and fellow senior Kendra Muhlenkamp did plenty of damage elsewhere as they led the Jay County High School girls basketball team to a 66-45 victory over the visiting Warriors.

“Shelby came out in the beginning of the game and got us off to a quick start,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer. “It’s always nice when she can hit a three early.”

After scoring from the outside early, Caldwell punished Woodlan in the paint the rest of the way. She worked her way inside, either scoring or, more often, finding her way to the free throw line, where she made 10 of her 11 attempts. She had 17 points at the intermission and didn’t miss a two-point field-goal attempt until the fourth quarter.

Muhlenkamp, meanwhile, was her typical attacking self, slicing to the basket to either hit layups of her own or dish off for easy looks for her teammates. She shot 8-12 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line while dishing out a team-high four assists.

“It was nice to see Kendra come out and not only score like that, but make really good decisions,” said Comer. “She did a good job of getting the ball to her teammates, plus scoring. But what I’m most proud of is she took what was there, didn’t force things.”

Muhlenkamp (nine) and Caldwell (eight) also powered the Patriots to a 40-24 advantage on the glass.

The Patriots (2-3, 1-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) had lost three in a row — to Class 2A No. 4 Oak Hill, Bellmont and Class 2A No. 1 Winchester — but never trailed against Woodlan after Caldwell’s pair of 3-pointers and a Hannah Phillips hoop off a steal and assist from Muhlenkamp gave them an 8-0 lead. The Warriors bounced back and were still within a possession — 27-24 — midway through the second quarter before the home team put them away with a strong close to the opening half.

Clare Dirksen hit a free throw to start the run, and then Hanna Dillon buried a 3-pointer off of a Caldwell assist. The Patriots’ senior leading scorer handled the next six points, including four from the free-throw line, before assisting again on a hoop by Hallie Fields to complete a 12-0 run.

Gabby Joyce made a 3-pointer for Woodlan to close the first-half scoring, but the Warriors (6-2, 0-1 ACAC) never pulled to within single digits.

“We’re still a young team, but when we play somebody good, we tend to give in to them,” said WHS coach Gary Cobb, who got 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists from junior Addie Bayman. “And that happened tonight.

“They got off to a quick start and then we cut it to four. The next thing you know, it got out of hand.

“A lot of it is just being a little timid against a good team. It’s not the way we played the other night when we won. We’ve won four in a row coming into this one. We haven’t played timid at all in those games. We’ve been the aggressor. Tonight we weren’t the aggressor. We backed down.”

Phillips had eight points in support of Caldwell and Muhlenkamp, and Fields finished with seven.



Junior varsity

Jay County stayed close but wasn’t able to get the big shot to fall in time in a 45-43 loss to the Warriors.

The Patriots trailed by seven at halftime as they gave up double-digit points in every quarter. Pacie Denney hit a 3-pointer with the home team down by five in the final 30 seconds, but it had bounced high off the rim and touched wire above the basket to make it a dead ball.

Grace Saxman hit triple at the buzzer, but it was too little, too late.

Saxman still racked up a game-high 18 points for JCHS. Denney added nine points, and Andrea Jutte scored seven.

Alicia McMahan drained three 3-pointers to total 11 points for Woodlan. Oliva Baumert joined her in double figures with 10.