Patriots pull away

NEW CASTLE — Her team leading by six early in the second half, Kendra Muhlenkamp drove the lane and drew a foul from Kassidy Dishman.

Muhlenkamp made both free throws, and the next trip down the court Shelby Caldwell swished a 3-pointer on an assist from Hannah Phillips.

The next possession, Phillips to Caldwell again for three.

The Patriots cruised from there.

Caldwell got hot from the 3-point line in the second half to compliment Phillips' effort in the first 16 minutes, and the Jay County High School girls basketball team held Delta without a field goal during the fourth quarter en route to a 67-41 drubbing of the Eagles in the quarterfinal round of the Class 3A Sectional 24 tournament on Friday at New Castle Fieldhouse.

“I thought that was the difference in the game where we were able to expand the lead,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team has won its ninth consecutive game and 14th in its last 15.

The Patriots advance to the sectional semifinal at 7:30 p.m. tonight against the New Castle Trojans, who defeated Blackford 54-20 earlier Friday night. Jay County lost to New Castle 51-47 on Nov. 29.

Muhlenkamp, who finished with 10 points, put the Patriots (17-7) ahead 34-26, and Caldwell's consecutive triples made it 40-26 for the team's second double-digit lead of the night to force Delta's timeout.

Out of the break, two Eagle turnovers and one by the Patriots preceded a third straight 3-pointer from Caldwell to put the contest well out of reach for Delta, 43-26.

The Eagles never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way and JCHS led by as many as 28.

Pulling away for the 26-point win came after the Patriots saw their 22-7 lead at the end of the first quarter trimmed to eight points at halftime.

“If we want to continue to play we have 16 more minutes,” Comer said of his message to his squad at halftime after seeing Delta hold a 17-10 advantage in the second quarter.

“We're going to have to continue to hit the boards and we're going to have to pick it up defensively.”

It was four straight turnovers that led directly to Caldwell's three triples in the third quarter. She added one more in the fourth quarter as she sank all four of her attempts from long range on her way to a game-high 29 points. Phillips, who was second on the team with 14 points, matched Caldwell with four triples.

Comer didn't necessarily want to shoot a bunch of threes — the Patriots were 8-of-13 from the arc — but the shots became available as the Eagles packed the paint to prevent Madison Dirksen, Hallie Fields, Muhlenkamp and Caldwell from getting close to the hoop.

And in the final period, Delta (12-12) went more than five minutes without scoring a basket. Its first points were a pair of Grace Gilland free throws with 2:59 to play. Lainey Bonser added two charity tosses and Gilland made two more from the foul line as the Eagles' only points in the quarter as they missed all 10 field goals.

Jay County's strong start in the third quarter was similar to its performance in the first.

After a Brooklyn Matheny 3-pointer — she led the Eagles with 12 points, all of which came from distance — made it 5-2 Eagles, Jay County scored 11 straight points. Madison Dirksen tallied half of her four points on a Hanna Dillon assist before Muhlenkamp scored her first points of the game. Then Caldwell hauled in one of her five rebounds and went end-to-end for the basket. Muhlenkamp followed by dishing one of her six assists to Phillips at the left wing for a 3-pointer and a 13-5 advantage.

Fields, who had a game-high seven rebounds, capped the run with a pair of free throws for two of her six points.

“I thought our rebounding was good tonight,” said Comer, whose team held a 33-20 edge on the boards. “For the most part, our defense was OK.”

It'll have to be stellar tonight if the Patriots look to avenge its regular-season loss to the Trojans (15-9). Senior Miss Basketball Cameron Tabor, who is headed to Davidson next season, is the program's all-time leading scorer. Entering Friday, she was averaging 24 points per game. Comer said the Patriots will have to protect the lane to limit Tabor's effectiveness.

“We're going to have to control their penetration,” he said. “When they get the ball in the paint they are really good, and the reasoning for that is Tabor is so good at driving the basketball. She hits the open shooters and they can hit threes.

“We are going to have to contain her and keep her out of the paint.”

The other semifinal pits defending sectional champion Hamilton Heights (13-10) against Burris (7-12).