No answer for Tabor

NEW CASTLE — Early turnovers and difficulty keeping New Castle off the offensive glass left the Patriots facing a double-digit deficit.

Twice they began to close the gap, seemingly ready to rally back into contention.

Both times, the Trojans had the answer.

It was Cameron Tabor.

The New Castle senior hit a 3-pointer just before the first-half buzzer and added a personal 6-0 run to end the third quarter. She and her Trojan teammates proved too much to overcome as the Jay County High School’s girls basketball team saw its season come to an end Saturday with a 60-47 loss in the Class 3A Sectional 24 semifinal.

“She’s the real deal,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer of the Davidson-bound Tabor. “We knew we had to stop her penetration. We just couldn’t do it. We tried as hard as we could, we just couldn’t do it. She’s really good.”

The Trojans (15-9) advance to Monday’s sectional championship game against Hamilton Heights (14-10), which obliterated Burris 54-16 in Saturday’s first semifinal game. The teams met in the regular-season, with the Huskies earning a six-point win.

A 16-point run in the second quarter had the Trojans up by 12 before Jay County (17-8) got a couple of hoops to close the gap to 26-19 in the final minute of the first half. Tabor got the ball after a timeout, and, working against sophomore defensive specialist Aubrey Schwieterman, hit a step-back 3-pointer from the top of the key with two seconds left to push her team’s advantage back to 10 at the half.

New Castle pushed ahead by as many as 16 in the third quarter before the Patriots tallied nine points in a row to again get within 37-30. Tabor responded by scoring on the next three possessions, and JCHS never threatened again.

Those key moments highlighted an evening during which Tabor racked up 27 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and a block.

“One of the things I love about Cameron is that sometimes they think that they have to be all focused on her,” said New Castle coach Molly Swift, complimenting her senior leader’s all-around impact on the game. “But when she drove, she made some awesome dishes tonight. She just does it for her teammates.”

Jay County had a clear mission from the start, with Kendra Muhlenkamp passing to Hannah Phillips for a feed inside to leading scorer Shelby Caldwell. But after Caldwell missed two free throws, the Patriots went on to turn the ball over on six of their next seven possessions.

Meanwhile, the Trojans dominated the offensive glass early, repeatedly scoring second-chance points. Laila Smith led that effort as five of her game-high 12 rebounds came on the offensive end and helped power her 12-point effort.

“That killed us,” said Comer. “I think their defensive pressure and their offensive rebounding was the difference in the game. We always talk about that. We usually out-rebound our opponent. But tonight we didn’t and it was huge. They would shoot until they scored, and we would go down and shoot one time.”

Caldwell scored 11 of her team-best 17 points for the Patriots in the second half and also led the team with seven rebounds. Muhlenkamp had 12 points to go along with three assists, and Hannah Phillips hit three 3-pointers as part of her 11-point effort.

The game marked the end of the careers of seniors Hanna Dillon, Kendal Garringer, Clare Dirksen, Caldwell, Muhlenkamp and Phillips.

Caldwell became the third player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark. finishing with 1,071 points to place third on the all-time list behind Shannon Freeman (1,458) and Carissa Phillips (1,073). Her 44 3-pointers this year were second most by a Patriot in a single season, trailing 2016 graduate Lyla Muhlenkamp (62).

Muhlenkamp ended up fourth in career steals and fifth in career assists. Hannah Phillips’ three triples Saturday night pushed her to fifth on the single-season list with 40.

“We have great seniors. It was sad in there …” Comer said, referencing his post-game talk with the team in the locker room. “They’re super kids. … We’re going to miss all the seniors.”