Jay closes strong

MONROEVILLE — Neither set of Patriots was at their best.

The visiting group was having its worst shooting game of the season through three quarters.

The hosts, with their leading scorer ailing, were one and done almost every time down the floor.

It came down to which set of Patriots would be able to make key plays in the final minutes.

Jay County delivered when it needed to, forcing a pair of key turnovers in the final minute as it knocked off Heritage 35-33.

“I thought we made a lot better decisions in the second half,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team has now won six in a row. “We got good stops there three or four possessions in a row when we needed to.

“We didn’t shoot very well. But we continued to work and get stops and we did just enough to pull out a win.”

After trailing by six early in the fourth quarter, Jay County (7-5, 2-1 Allen County Athletic Conference) took the lead for good when Madison Dirksen scored on an assist from Renna Schwieterman with 2:29 remaining.

Then the visitors started draining the clock. They called three timeouts during their next possession before running a set play on which Schwieterman drew the defense and kicked to Dirksen again for a three-point lead.

“The basket Madison hit was huge,” said Comer. “It was a set play. Everyone went to Renna. And Renna kicked it back and, even though Madison hadn’t had her best shooting night, she stepped up and hit a big shot.”

Heritage (9-4, 1-2 ACAC) tried to run its next three plays through leading scorer Bree Dossen, whose availability was extremely limited because of an illness. She missed a shot on the first try, tossed an errant pass to Dirksen for a turnover on the second and had the ball stripped away by Aubrie Schwieterman on the third.

Each of the steals led to a free throw by Renna Schwieterman to push the lead to 35-30 before Abby Sheehan of Heritage hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game as time expired.

“When you’re not hitting shots, you’ve got to get stops,” said Comer. “And we were able to do that just enough.”

Defense was key for JCHS through the fourth quarter as Comer deployed freshman Gabi Bilbrey at the top of a half-court trap. It resulted in a couple of turnovers that helped the visitors erase their six-point deficit.

“We were just trying to apply the most pressure possible and really turn over the ball,” said Bilbrey. “Just trap in the corners and cut off the passes.”

“She’s a nice weapon to put in there,” said Comer, who has been using Bilbrey on defense and then bringing Izzy Rodgers back into the lineup on offense. “She’s very athletic, tall and makes it hard for the opponents’ guards to throw over the top of her. She closes the trap really quick.”

Dirksen also came up big in the final 12 minutes. After missing her first eight shots, she hit five of her final seven and scored eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Her effort mirrored that of the entire Jay County squad, which missed 22 first-half shots and was shooting just 25.6 percent through three quarters. The visitors went 5-of-12 (42 percent) in the fourth quarter with Dirksen hitting four of those shots.

While Jay County struggled to hit shots early, it dominated on the offensive glass. The visitors grabbed 16 offensive rebounds compared to just four for Heritage, resulting in 16 more field-goal attempts.

Sheehan’s 14 points were the team-high for Heritage. Dossen, who came in averaging 17.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, took just two shots and scored two points before fouling out with 12.1 seconds left.



Junior varsity

Jay County couldn’t stop the Heritage offense in the first quarter and went on to lose 33-45.

JCHS gave up 20 points in the opening seven minutes as it slipped to 4-4. It also scored just two points in the third quarter.

Abbie Fields scored six of her team-high eight points for Jay County in the second quarter. Maddison Wenk and Andrea Jutte each had six points.

Shelby Schane tallied a game-high 15 points for Heritage. Abby Zelt followed with nine points, and Kali Meyer scored eight.