Zone stifles Heritage

Neither set of Patriots shot particularly well from long distance.

But the home-standing group got a couple of key triples in the opening quarter.

And by the time the visiting group started to hit the target late in the third quarter, it was too late.

The host Jay County High School girls basketball team’s zone defense stifled Heritage’s offense for the first 22 minutes Saturday on the way to a 50-29 Allen County Athletic Conference victory.

JCHS’s first points of the game came on an Aubrie Schwieterman layup off of a Madison Dirksen steal, and Dirksen added a 3-pointer at the 6:35 mark. Dirksen again hit a triple from the top of the key off of a Renna Schwieterman assist just before the first-quarter buzzer for a 12-2 advantage.

“You don’t have a lot of posts her size who can move like her who have range like her,” said Heritage coach Nicole Sisson, whose team fell to 9-6 overall and 3-1 in the conference. Her squad had topped ACAC rivals Southern Wells, South Adams and Woodlan by a combined six points. “She’s a very, very good player, a good weapon.”

While Jay County (11-2, 3-0 ACAC) would only make one other 3-pointer — Izzy Rodgers hit one in the second quarter — the early 10-point advantage was too much for the visitors.

Heritage was stuck on two points until Ella Bickel finally connected on a 3-pointer with five minutes left in the first half.

Sisson’s squad struggled against the home team’s zone, shooting 3-of-19 from the field and 1-of-10 from long distance in the first 16 minutes.

“I thought we did a pretty good job of that,” said Comer. “But if you go back and you look … they had a lot of uncontested shots. If they would have hit some of those shots in the first half, it could have been a different game going into halftime. … We’ve got to do a better job of contesting.”

Renna Schwieterman tallied eight of Jay County’s first 10 second-half points as it pushed its advantage to 39-11 before Heritage put together its first, and only, run of the game.

Bickel tallied three 3-pointers in a span of four minutes as Heritage scored 11 straight points.

“Ella creates a lot for us,” said Sisson of the junior who had 14 points. “When she hits shots, it obviously makes the defense have to give her a good amount of attention. And she’s a good passer and will find her teammates … so it kind of feeds the fire … She does a lot for us.”

Dirksen, who finished with 14 points and four rebounds, ended the Heritage streak with a couple of free throws, and the visitors never got closer than 17 points in the final quarter.

Comer used the sizable advantage his team had most of the way to mix his lineup up a bit, bringing freshman Breanna Dirksen off the bench in the second quarter as part of an effort to extend his bench. She saw a few minutes in each half, hitting a pair of free throws in the final minute.

“We’re slowly trying to bring her in,” said Comer, who has typically used a seven-player rotation this season. “We would like to have one more person off the bench. … I think she’s about ready. We just need one more person who can give the starters some rest.

“For a freshman, she’s a lot like Sophie (Saxman), she’s just so steady. They don’t play like freshmen.”

Renna Schwieterman led Jay County in points (19), rebounds (nine), assists (six) and blocks (two). Aubrie Schwieterman hit all of her three field-goal attempts to add six points.



Junior varsity

Jay County owned the first half and cruised to a 38-21 victory over Heritage.

The home team limited Heritage to four points in each of the first three quarters while racking up 27 of its own in the first half. It was up 33-12 through the first 21 minutes.

Abbie Fields paced JCHS with 10 points, eight of which came in the first half. Jayden Claytor added six points, and Molly Muhlenkamp had five including a half-court 3-pointer.

Natalie Otte, Grace Guenthner and Madilyn Scheumann each had four points for Heritage.