Defense shuts down Titans

In four games this season, the Titans were averaging north of 66 points.

Three of their players accounted for almost two-thirds of that offensive production.

But they hadn’t met a team like the Patriots.

Jay County High School’s girls basketball team kept the Tri Titans to less than half of their scoring average in picking up their fourth straight win with a 50-31 victory on Thursday.

“I was happy defensively,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, who picked up his 350th career victory Friday. “I thought for the most part we were in our spots. I thought we gave up too many rebounds, but defensively I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part.”

Entering the night, Tri's senior forward Averi Phelps was averaging 17.5 points per game, while sophomore forward Bailey Parham (12.3 PPG) and senior guard Maddi Burchett (12.0) were also scoring in double figures. But Jay County (5-1), limited them to just nine total points in the first half.

The 6-foot, 2-inch Phelps scored the first two buckets for the Titans (3-2) but had to sit the remainder of the first half as she also picked up two fouls. Phelps and Parham helped the Titans get a 6-3 lead early, but it was all Jay County the rest of the way.

Madison Dirksen hit her second and final 3-pointer of the night from the left wing to tie the score at six apiece, then she converted a Grace Saxman assist to give the Patriots a lead they never gave up.

The Patriots, who cross the state line to meet Fort Recovery on Saturday afternoon, forced the Titans into committing 24 turnovers, 13 of which were in the final two quarters.

Many of those turnovers had to do with senior guard Aubrie Schwieterman using her always-relentless defense. If Jay County missed a shot and a Tri player grabbed the rebound, often times Schwieterman was there to rip it from the rebounder, keeping the ball in the Patriots’ offensive end.

“She always plays like that,” Comer said. Schwieterman doubled her season total by scoring six points, two of those off one of the aforementioned steals. “She’s just a great asset to have out there on the floor.

“She’s playing a lot more in control now and she makes it really hard for them to make decisions. Tonight, when they brought the rebounds down she was there to get them. Just another great effort by her on the defensive end.”

Dirksen scored eight of her game-high 15 points in the first quarter. Sophomore Renna Schwieterman had just two points at half but finished with a dozen. She also led the team with seven rebounds, dished five assists and matched Dirksen’s defensive effort with two blocked shots.

Izzy Rodgers ended with seven points.

But on Thursday it was the Patriots’ defense that stood out the most.

Parham led the Titans with 13 points, and Phelps finished with eight, less than half her per-game average. Along with Burchett’s five points, the Tri trio totaled just 26 points, a far cry from the 41-plus they had averaged through the first four games.

“We try to switch (defenses) a lot and I thought we could do that against them and caught them off guard,” Comer said. “For the most part I thought we did a good job.”



Junior varsity

Jay County wasn’t able to score after regulation in suffering a 28-25 overtime loss to Tri.

Jay County (3-2), which trailed 9-2 after the first quarter and 14-6 at intermission, surged in the second half to take a lead, only to have the Titans tie the score at 25-all with a minute to play in regulation.

Breanna Dirksen scored nine points to pace the Patriots, who also got four points from Molly Muhlenkamp. Grace Shimp contributed three points.