January 16, 2019 at 4:50 a.m.
Patriots upset second-ranked Knights
Fast start, strong finish gives Jay County 57-54 win over Norwell
Patriots upset second-ranked Knights
Copyright 2019, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
The Patriots got off to a fast start and the Knights couldn’t keep up during the first two quarters.
A spell of sloppy play in the second half allowed the Knights to tie the score in the fourth.
But it was a bit of lackadaisical play on offense that doomed one of the top-ranked teams in the state.
A quick beginning, two crucial turnovers and solid fourth-quarter play from a junior basking in confidence lately was enough for the Jay County High School girls basketball to upset the Class 3A No. 2 Norwell Knights on Tuesday, 57-54.
“Just not thinking about it as much and just kind of playing,” Hallie Fields, a JCHS junior, said of how she’s been playing so well lately. The forward had half of her career-high 14 points in the final eight minutes and has scored 10 or more points in three of her last four games after reaching double digits just once in her previous 16 contests.
“I have a lot more confidence than I did at the beginning.”
Jay County (13-7), which has won five straight games and 11 of its last dozen, was clinging to a 52-50 lead late in the fourth before Fields split a pair of free throws to push the margin to three points.
Then with 8.9 seconds remaining and her team ahead by one, 53-52, Fields was sent to the line for a pair of free throws but missed them both. Shelby Caldwell hauled in the rebound on the right block and passed to the other side of the paint to Fields, who got fouled again.
With a chance at redemption, she made them both with 6.5 ticks on the clock to seal the win.
“She’s playing with a lot of confidence and she played huge again tonight,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team played its second of four games in the span of five days. “When you have confidence and you believe in yourself you continue to play better and better and that’s what she’s doing right now.
“She’s just believing in herself and playing with a lot of confidence.”
Patriot senior Kendra Muhlenkamp led the squad with 17 points, and Caldwell finished with a dozen to move into third on the team’s career scoring list with 973 points.
Jay County, which hosts sectional rival Delta (11-8) for senior night on Thursday before traveling to Southern Wells on Friday, played quickly to start the game and jumped out to a 21-10 lead after the first quarter. The Patriots led 12-10 before going on a nine-point run, including four points from Fields, three from Muhlenkamp and a pair from Clare Dirksen.
Norwell (16-3), a team that lost to Class 3A No. 6 Bellmont 50-42 on Monday, got as close as seven before Jay County pushed the score to 33-19 at half.
Jay County committed more turnovers (eight) than it scored points (six) in the third quarter, which allowed Norwell to get within eight with one period to play.
The Knights tied the game at 43-all on a 12-4 run as Maiah Shelton scored four points while Lauren Bales and Kaylee Fuelling added three apiece.
“We just can’t cheat ourselves out of an opportunity to beat good basketball teams and I felt like the start of the game was really, really difficult to overcome,” Norwell coach Eric Thornton said.
Muhlenkamp made one of two shots from the free-throw line to put Jay County back out front and fast-break baskets from Hannah Phillips (seven points) and Caldwell allowed the Patriots to create a little bit of a cushion with 3:02 to play.
The Knights were never able to pull even again.
“Credit to our kids for coming back and having a chance to pull it out in the end,” Thornton added. “We expended a lot of energy to get to that point in the game. Just a couple plays short again tonight. Two close ones against two good basketball teams.”
Shelton led all players with 20 points, and Breann Barger joined her in double figures with 10 points before fouling out in the final minute.
“(This win) gives us a lot of confidence because we know that we can beat good teams,” Fields said. “It was a good game.”
Junior varsity
Jay County didn’t have the quick start its varsity counterparts did in a 47-24 defeat.
The Patriots (9-8) fell behind 15-2 after the first quarter and were behind 31-8 at halftime.
The margin stayed the same after three quarters as both teams scored nine points in the third. Norwell led by as many as 30 points midway through the fourth quarter.
Grace Saxman tallied nine points for Jay County, which got seven from Aubrie Schwieterman and four points from Macey Weitzel.
Emily Todd and Grace Bradtmueller had 10 points each for Norwell.
All Rights Reserved
The Patriots got off to a fast start and the Knights couldn’t keep up during the first two quarters.
A spell of sloppy play in the second half allowed the Knights to tie the score in the fourth.
But it was a bit of lackadaisical play on offense that doomed one of the top-ranked teams in the state.
A quick beginning, two crucial turnovers and solid fourth-quarter play from a junior basking in confidence lately was enough for the Jay County High School girls basketball to upset the Class 3A No. 2 Norwell Knights on Tuesday, 57-54.
“Just not thinking about it as much and just kind of playing,” Hallie Fields, a JCHS junior, said of how she’s been playing so well lately. The forward had half of her career-high 14 points in the final eight minutes and has scored 10 or more points in three of her last four games after reaching double digits just once in her previous 16 contests.
“I have a lot more confidence than I did at the beginning.”
Jay County (13-7), which has won five straight games and 11 of its last dozen, was clinging to a 52-50 lead late in the fourth before Fields split a pair of free throws to push the margin to three points.
Then with 8.9 seconds remaining and her team ahead by one, 53-52, Fields was sent to the line for a pair of free throws but missed them both. Shelby Caldwell hauled in the rebound on the right block and passed to the other side of the paint to Fields, who got fouled again.
With a chance at redemption, she made them both with 6.5 ticks on the clock to seal the win.
“She’s playing with a lot of confidence and she played huge again tonight,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team played its second of four games in the span of five days. “When you have confidence and you believe in yourself you continue to play better and better and that’s what she’s doing right now.
“She’s just believing in herself and playing with a lot of confidence.”
Patriot senior Kendra Muhlenkamp led the squad with 17 points, and Caldwell finished with a dozen to move into third on the team’s career scoring list with 973 points.
Jay County, which hosts sectional rival Delta (11-8) for senior night on Thursday before traveling to Southern Wells on Friday, played quickly to start the game and jumped out to a 21-10 lead after the first quarter. The Patriots led 12-10 before going on a nine-point run, including four points from Fields, three from Muhlenkamp and a pair from Clare Dirksen.
Norwell (16-3), a team that lost to Class 3A No. 6 Bellmont 50-42 on Monday, got as close as seven before Jay County pushed the score to 33-19 at half.
Jay County committed more turnovers (eight) than it scored points (six) in the third quarter, which allowed Norwell to get within eight with one period to play.
The Knights tied the game at 43-all on a 12-4 run as Maiah Shelton scored four points while Lauren Bales and Kaylee Fuelling added three apiece.
“We just can’t cheat ourselves out of an opportunity to beat good basketball teams and I felt like the start of the game was really, really difficult to overcome,” Norwell coach Eric Thornton said.
Muhlenkamp made one of two shots from the free-throw line to put Jay County back out front and fast-break baskets from Hannah Phillips (seven points) and Caldwell allowed the Patriots to create a little bit of a cushion with 3:02 to play.
The Knights were never able to pull even again.
“Credit to our kids for coming back and having a chance to pull it out in the end,” Thornton added. “We expended a lot of energy to get to that point in the game. Just a couple plays short again tonight. Two close ones against two good basketball teams.”
Shelton led all players with 20 points, and Breann Barger joined her in double figures with 10 points before fouling out in the final minute.
“(This win) gives us a lot of confidence because we know that we can beat good teams,” Fields said. “It was a good game.”
Junior varsity
Jay County didn’t have the quick start its varsity counterparts did in a 47-24 defeat.
The Patriots (9-8) fell behind 15-2 after the first quarter and were behind 31-8 at halftime.
The margin stayed the same after three quarters as both teams scored nine points in the third. Norwell led by as many as 30 points midway through the fourth quarter.
Grace Saxman tallied nine points for Jay County, which got seven from Aubrie Schwieterman and four points from Macey Weitzel.
Emily Todd and Grace Bradtmueller had 10 points each for Norwell.
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