December 30, 2020 at 6:15 p.m.
Shaking off the slump
Patriots overcome first-half struggles to power past Tigers, 54-44
Shaking off the slump
YORKTOWN — Renna Schwieterman missed her first seven shots.
The rest of her team wasn’t doing too hot either.
They were turning the ball over. They were having trouble defending Tiger senior Carley Culberson.
But late in the first half, Schwieterman found her touch.
Then she led the charge after intermission.
Schwieterman scored a season-high 26 points as the Jay County High School girls basketball team rallied from a being down 13 to outpace the Yorktown Tigers 32-17 in the second half on their way to a 54-44 road victory Tuesday night.
“I think this was huge for us,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team moves to 10-2 on the season. “It gave us a lot of confidence. We’re really excited about where we’re at right now.
“We’re 2-0 against sectional opponents and we’ve got a goal of winning sectional. It’s going to be a tough sectional, but tonight we learned how hard we’re going to have to play to be successful in the sectional.”
Yorktown’s Elizabeth Reece made a pair of free throws to make it 25-12 Tigers (6-3) after Comer was charged with a technical foul with 4:02 to play in the first half.
Moments later, Grace Saxman split a pair of free throws and then Schwieterman went on her tear.
She put the Tiger defense on spin cycle, driving through the lane for her first points of the game, then on the next trip down she drove the right side of the lane for two more points.
After a Culberson bucket, Schwieterman got physical again, scoring two points while drawing a foul. She sank the and-one opportunity, then with 57 seconds remaining made two more shots from the stripe to give Jay County a respectable deficit at half, 27-22.
Yorktown’s full-court pressure got to Jay County early in the second half, as Culberson, who finished with a team-best 23 points, scored eight quick ones, including three baskets off Patriot turnovers.
But at the midway point of the quarter, the Patriots, who were down 35-27, started attacking the Tiger defense instead of letting the pressure come to them.
Izzy Rodgers nailed a jumper from the right side to make it 35-29, and Schwieterman converted an old-fashioned three-point play again. Culberson stopped the short JCHS run with a layup, then Rodgers and Schwieterman went back-to-back again as Jay County pulled within one, 37-36.
Schwieterman later assisted on a Saxman 3-pointer to make it 39-38, and after Gretchen Moore put Yorktown on top again Madison Dirksen hit a shot with 2.1 seconds left for a 41-40 Patriot lead.
They never trailed again and held Yorktown to just four points in the final eight minutes.
“We worked as a team, we shared the ball, got everybody open shots and we started hitting them again,” Schwieterman said of how the Patriots were able to pull off this win despite the lackluster first half.
As for how she was able to break out of her funk, which left her visibly frustrated when her seventh straight shot missed to begin the game?
“You just stick with it,” she said. “Keep shooting. If it isn’t working, just pass the ball. Keep trying to lift your teammates up any way you can.”
As Schwieterman heated up, so too did her teammates. Jay County was just 7-of-28 (25%) from the field in the first half, and 70.6% (12-for-17) in the second.
“We were going to do one of two things,” Comer said. “We were either going to continue to fight or we were going to quit. To be honest, I was just watching to see what we did.
“I can help them with things to get them through situations, but they have to go out and do it. I was really proud of the way they did it in the second half.”
Culberson scored 13 points in the first half against the Patriots’ zone defense, and despite her quick eight points to start the third quarter she didn’t do much else because Comer made senior Aubrie Schwieterman defend her man-to-man for the rest of the night. Yorktown scored fewer points in the second half (17) than it did the entirety of the first quarter (19). No other Tiger had more than five points on the night.
Dirksen joined Renna Schwieterman in double figures with 11 points and also pulled down a team-best seven rebounds. Rodgers finished with seven points.
Junior varsity
Trailing after both the first and second quarters, Jay County outscored Yorktown 18-9 in the third on its way to a 42-35 victory.
The Patriots (7-3) were down 14-7 at the end of the first quarter but trimmed the margin by two points, 20-15, at halftime. The third propelled the Patriots to a 33-29 lead, and they continued to pull away in the fourth quarter.
Bella Denton led Jay County with 11 points, and Danielle May joined her in double figures with 10 points. Jayden Claytor chipped in nine points, and Danielle May contributed eight points.
The rest of her team wasn’t doing too hot either.
They were turning the ball over. They were having trouble defending Tiger senior Carley Culberson.
But late in the first half, Schwieterman found her touch.
Then she led the charge after intermission.
Schwieterman scored a season-high 26 points as the Jay County High School girls basketball team rallied from a being down 13 to outpace the Yorktown Tigers 32-17 in the second half on their way to a 54-44 road victory Tuesday night.
“I think this was huge for us,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team moves to 10-2 on the season. “It gave us a lot of confidence. We’re really excited about where we’re at right now.
“We’re 2-0 against sectional opponents and we’ve got a goal of winning sectional. It’s going to be a tough sectional, but tonight we learned how hard we’re going to have to play to be successful in the sectional.”
Yorktown’s Elizabeth Reece made a pair of free throws to make it 25-12 Tigers (6-3) after Comer was charged with a technical foul with 4:02 to play in the first half.
Moments later, Grace Saxman split a pair of free throws and then Schwieterman went on her tear.
She put the Tiger defense on spin cycle, driving through the lane for her first points of the game, then on the next trip down she drove the right side of the lane for two more points.
After a Culberson bucket, Schwieterman got physical again, scoring two points while drawing a foul. She sank the and-one opportunity, then with 57 seconds remaining made two more shots from the stripe to give Jay County a respectable deficit at half, 27-22.
Yorktown’s full-court pressure got to Jay County early in the second half, as Culberson, who finished with a team-best 23 points, scored eight quick ones, including three baskets off Patriot turnovers.
But at the midway point of the quarter, the Patriots, who were down 35-27, started attacking the Tiger defense instead of letting the pressure come to them.
Izzy Rodgers nailed a jumper from the right side to make it 35-29, and Schwieterman converted an old-fashioned three-point play again. Culberson stopped the short JCHS run with a layup, then Rodgers and Schwieterman went back-to-back again as Jay County pulled within one, 37-36.
Schwieterman later assisted on a Saxman 3-pointer to make it 39-38, and after Gretchen Moore put Yorktown on top again Madison Dirksen hit a shot with 2.1 seconds left for a 41-40 Patriot lead.
They never trailed again and held Yorktown to just four points in the final eight minutes.
“We worked as a team, we shared the ball, got everybody open shots and we started hitting them again,” Schwieterman said of how the Patriots were able to pull off this win despite the lackluster first half.
As for how she was able to break out of her funk, which left her visibly frustrated when her seventh straight shot missed to begin the game?
“You just stick with it,” she said. “Keep shooting. If it isn’t working, just pass the ball. Keep trying to lift your teammates up any way you can.”
As Schwieterman heated up, so too did her teammates. Jay County was just 7-of-28 (25%) from the field in the first half, and 70.6% (12-for-17) in the second.
“We were going to do one of two things,” Comer said. “We were either going to continue to fight or we were going to quit. To be honest, I was just watching to see what we did.
“I can help them with things to get them through situations, but they have to go out and do it. I was really proud of the way they did it in the second half.”
Culberson scored 13 points in the first half against the Patriots’ zone defense, and despite her quick eight points to start the third quarter she didn’t do much else because Comer made senior Aubrie Schwieterman defend her man-to-man for the rest of the night. Yorktown scored fewer points in the second half (17) than it did the entirety of the first quarter (19). No other Tiger had more than five points on the night.
Dirksen joined Renna Schwieterman in double figures with 11 points and also pulled down a team-best seven rebounds. Rodgers finished with seven points.
Junior varsity
Trailing after both the first and second quarters, Jay County outscored Yorktown 18-9 in the third on its way to a 42-35 victory.
The Patriots (7-3) were down 14-7 at the end of the first quarter but trimmed the margin by two points, 20-15, at halftime. The third propelled the Patriots to a 33-29 lead, and they continued to pull away in the fourth quarter.
Bella Denton led Jay County with 11 points, and Danielle May joined her in double figures with 10 points. Jayden Claytor chipped in nine points, and Danielle May contributed eight points.
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD