Jay girls stay perfect at home

The foul shooting wasn’t pretty in the final two minutes.

The Patriots made enough free throws to survive.

Jay County High School’s girls basketball team stayed undefeated at home Saturday as it fought off the Fort Recovery Indians for a 45-40 victory.

The Patriots (3-5), who have back-to-back wins for the first time this season after also topping New Castle on Thursday, were in control for most of the first half and had a 31-19 lead in the third quarter. But that advantage disappeared leading to a tight game down the stretch.

The score was tied at 35 with three minutes to go before JCHS freshman Renna Schwieterman pulled up a drive and kissed a shot off the glass to give her team the lead for good. Whitley Rammel split a pair of free throws on the Indians’ next possession to pull them to within one, but they were never able to get even again.

Aubrie Schwieterman, Izzy Rodgers, Hallie Fields and Madison Dirksen all split free throws for the Patriots in the final two minutes — Rammel missed a pair for FRHS with 20.4 seconds left as well — before Renna Schwieterman hit a pair to finally secure the victory.

The final foul shots finished off a 21-point performance for Schwieterman, who was aggressive going to the lane throughout the game. She scored 10 of her points from the line, with eight of those coming in the first half.

Schwieterman’s aggressiveness paired with a couple of Pacie Denney 3-pointers to help Jay County build a 15-8 lead in the opening period. The home team extended that advantage to nine points at halftime and 31-19 after Dirksen hit a pair of foul shots with 6:01 on the clock in the third quarter. But the rest of the period belonged to the Indians.

Fort Recovery (2-2) scored the final 11 points of the third quarter and then finished off a 13-0 run on a hoop by Alli Vaughn early in the final period to take the lead for the first time since being up 2-0. It fell behind again on a Schwieterman hoop and later pulled even at 35 on a Paige Fortkamp 3-pointer before the Patriots took control down the stretch.

The victory kept Jay County perfect at home with wins over Oak Hill, New Castle and Fort Recovery. The loss was the first for the Indians outside of the Midwest Athletic Conference after defeating Crestview and Wapakoneta.

Schwieterman’s 21 points lifted her team-best scoring average to 17 points per game. She shot 10-of-13 from the line for the Patriots, who outscored Fort Recovery 19-4 on free throws.

Denney and Rodgers added six points apiece, and Dirksen had five points.

The Indians were led by Vaughn’s 13 points. Val Muhlenkamp followed with 10 points, and Kierra Wendel added five.



Junior varsity

Jay County owned the middle quarters as it picked up a 34-28 victory over the Indians.

The Patriots (5-3) were up by just one after the first period. They then outscored Fort Recovery 21-10 in the second and third quarters to take control.

Andrea Jutte and Abbie Fields both reached double figures for JCHS with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Jayden Claytor added seven points.

Elena Evers matched Jutte with 12 points to lead the Indians. Grace Guggenbiller scored eight points.