Oh so Schwiet!

BERNE — The Patriots had a rough go in the first half.

They left shooters open along the perimeter. They made silly mistakes offensively, making ill-advised passes and failing to execute plays.

But they were only down by a half dozen at intermission.

After a third-quarter surge, their standout did her thing.

Renna Schwieterman matched her jersey number with a career-high 30 points, scoring half of them in the final two periods and going 11-for-11 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter as she carried the Jay County High School girls basketball team to the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament championship Saturday with a 52-48 victory over the Adams Central Jets at South Adams’ Stardome.

“I’m just really happy and proud for the kids,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team won its second title in three years and fifth since joining the conference seven years ago. “Anytime you can win a championship it’s neat. It never gets old because every team is different. You want every team to experience winning a championship.”

Jay County, which defeated Adams Central 46-41 during their Dec. 11 regular-season meeting, moved to 14-3 on the year while Adams Central fell to 11-8.

Schwieterman was later named Hilliard Gates Most Valuable Player, joining past Patriot MVPs Catherine Dunn (2015), Abby Wendel (2016), Taylor Homan (2017) and Shelby Caldwell (2019) to win the award, although she is the first JCHS sophomore to receive the honor.

“It’s huge,” she said of her accolade. “It’s a blessing, really. All thanks to my teammates and coaches.”

Jay County made up the 25-19 deficit at half during the third quarter by outscoring Adams Central 16-9. It took the lead for good early in the fourth quarter on an Izzy Rodgers 3-pointer from the right wing on one of Schwieterman’s five assists.

Rodgers’ final basket of the night put Jay County on top, 35-34, and it started a run of 10 straight points the eventual champs.

Schwieterman began her fourth-quarter tear with a post move in the paint, and then added three more on a layup and the and-one free throw. She then dished to Madison Dirksen to complete the JCHS run.

Adams Central’s Marissa Van De Weg stopped the streak with a layup on a Sage Hammond assist, then Hammond made a pair of free throws to trim the margin to four points. The Jets went on a 10-4 run to pull within two, 46-44, but they were never able to even the score.

After splitting a pair of free throws in each of the second and third quarters, Schwieterman was perfect from the stripe in the fourth to keep the Jets at bay.

“I think they showed great toughness,” Comer said. “We’re still not playing well offensively but we grinded it out, found a way to win. Got enough turnovers, got enough easy baskets and got enough big baskets to get us through.

“Obviously Renna just put us on her back and led us. Everybody that played did a great job and we needed everybody’s contribution to get the championship.”

Adams Central built its lead in the first half thanks to some stellar outside shooting. Senior McKenna Dietsch made half of her eight 3-point attempts, and Alivia Dalrymple had another. Dietsch had 14 points at halftime, but once the Patriots switched to a triangle-and-two defense, it took both Dietsch and Dalrymple out of the game. Aubrie Schwieterman, a senior, and freshmen Breanna Dirksen and Sophie Saxman had the task of shutting them down.

Dietsch didn’t score again, and Dalrymple only made two shots from the stripe in the second half.

“I thought we’d done a great job on (Dietsch),” Comer said. “I thought the girls that were guarding her had done a really good job.

The Patriots, who shot just 8-of-21 (38.1%) from the field in the first half compared to 10-for-20 (50%) by the Jets, were almost 20 percentage points higher from the floor during the final two quarters. The Patriots ended the game 19-for-40 (47.5%), and the Jets were 47.4% (18-of-38).

Jay County’s fifth championship is the fourth-most in the 47-year history of the tournament. Leo, which left the league following the 2014-15 season, has a record 15 championships. Heritage is second with 10, and last year’s winner Woodlan is third with six. Past members Norwell and Garrett have four each.

But this year’s belongs to the Patriots, a season after being bounced in the tournament quarterfinal for the first time by the eventual champion.

“It makes it feel so much better,” said Aubrie Schwieterman, one of two seniors. “It makes it feel worth it. I feel if we didn’t lose last year it would have been a whole different game.

“We went in knowing it was going to be a tough game.”