July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Can they stop Kyleigh? (02/09/06)
JCHS girls basketball
Can they stop Kyleigh? (02/09/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
The question hasn’t changed. It’ll just be a matter of whether the Patriots have figured out the answer.
“How do you stop Kyleigh Jones?”
Neither coach Shelly Renbarger of Jones’ Elwood Panthers nor Jay County coach Kirk Comer showed any interest in talking about a possible sectional championship match-up, wanting to avoid any possible bad karma of overlooking a semifinal opponent. And both coaches have teams which have had a history of struggling against sub-par competition early in the sectional.
“I know nothing about Elwood,” said Comer when first asked about Jones and the 18-4 Panthers prior to practice Wednesday afternoon. “My focus is totally on Mississinewa.”
Jay County (10-10) will play the host Indians (2-18) in the second of two semifinal games at the Class 3A girls basketball sectional tournament at Mississinewa Friday at 7:30 p.m. Elwood will take on Blackford (11-10) in the first semifinal contest at 6 p.m.
But barring a significant upset in those games, Jones will be the key to who walks away with the title.
While the games between Jay County and Elwood have gotten closer and closer over the last two seasons, Jones has gotten progressively better against the Patriots.
She had just 11 points in Elwood’s regular-season blowout win over Jay County a year ago before nailing down 20 points in the Panthers’ 58-48 victory in the 2005 sectional championship game.
And her coup de grace came Dec. 21. With her team trailing 42-33 she came to life, scoring 22 points in the final six minutes to lead Elwood to a 58-51 victory. She hit four 3-pointers during the stretch, made all of her 13 free-throw tries in the game and finished with 36 points.
Although reluctant to do so, Comer discussed a possible rematch.
“What I can tell you is that if we were both fortunate enough to get there again we would do things different than we did the time before,” he said. “We held back some during the regular season. Whether those things would be good enough to contain her enough, we would just have to see. I would love to have the opportunity to play them again in the finals.”
In the first meeting this season Jay County tried to always keep a fresh body defending Jones, with Sara Garringer, Cassandra Huelskamp, Abby Loy, Dana Horn and Theresa Reinhart all getting a crack at her. She had just 14 points and was 1-of-6 from 3-point range through the first 26 minutes, but could not be stopped with the game on the line.
Comer said if his team gets another chance against the Panthers two players will be assigned specifically to Jones. Whether the Patriots double team her or not is a different story.
“We tried some things last year and some other girls stepped up and hurt us,” Comer added. “We’ve studied a lot more this year ... we’re going to have to give something to get something. Last year, for a half, we chose the right thing, then it ended up hurting us.
“We want to be sure that when we give, we give the right things.”
Jones, the No. 4 scorer in the state at 24.4 points per game, has only served to boost her aura since the big finish against the Patriots. She scored a career-high 42 points Jan. 21 against Mississinewa, and is the Panthers’ all-time leading scorer with more than 1,600 career points.
Garringer — Jay County’s leader with 11.3 points per game, 3.1 assists and a 48-percent mark from 3-point range — said she feels prepared for another battle with Jones and the Panthers. She also thinks the team is more confident after being so close this year, as compared to 2004-05 when Elwood won the regular-season battle by 21 points.
“We’ve been working a lot on team defense and help side and stopping the penetration earlier before the post has to come and help,” said Garringer. “I think we’re really prepared for her to try and drive the lane. She’s going to have to kill us from the outside ...”
Renbarger, whose squad blew the doors off Tipton in a 67-28 opening-round win Tuesday, said its great to have a player with Jones’ capability to take over a game. But she would also rather not see her team down by nine points in the fourth quarter.
“If we were to face Jay County, I think we need to make better decisions offensively,” said Renbarger, whose team had 16 turnovers and just five assists in its regular-season win. “And we’ll probably go with a little different defensive scheme.”
Comer and Renbarger don’t want to look ahead to that possible title battle because they know their history.
Before Jay County won the first of its back-to-back sectional titles under then-coach Lea Selvey in 2002-03, it nearly got dumped in the semifinal round, barely surviving for a 37-34 victory over a 1-20 Tipton squad. A year later the Patriots blew a 16-point lead against 3-17 Mississinewa and needed a Lisa Weitzel buzzer-beater to force overtime in an eventual 61-50 win.
Elwood has had its share of semifinal struggles under Renbarger. Last season it needed overtime to defeat Delta 46-44 before beating Jay County for the sectional title. And in 2003-04 the Panthers were upset by Delta 50-43 in overtime.
On paper, Renbarger’s squad faces the more difficult of the semifinal challenges Friday night against Blackford. Elwood beat the Bruins by just one point in December as Jones was hurt by some early foul trouble and sat the bench most of the opening half.
Blackford also “shot the ball very well,” said Bruin coach Bruce Ruble. “The Jones girl got into a little bit of foul trouble. It was just one of those nights where she was a little off.
“They’re an awfully good basketball team and we’ll have to play one of our better basketball games to win.”
The Bruins needed overtime to defeat Delta 59-53 Tuesday night to earn their rematch with Elwood. They are led by Lyndsey Osborn (14.6 ppg, 4.9 apg) and the No. 11 rebounder in the state Kasey Michael (13.5 ppg, 11.4 rpg).
The Patriots would probably not mind seeing Blackford in the finals, having won the regular-season game 54-27 as the Bruins went without a field goal in the second half. Comer said keeping Michael and company off the boards would be the key to being able to come away with a victory again.
To get to the finals against either squad Jay County will have to survive its semifinal game against the host Indians, who it easily defeated 60-35 Nov. 22. Samantha Justus had 11 points in that losing effort, and Kelsey Barrett and Heather Swarts each added nine.
Mississinewa (2-18) won just one of its first 18 games, but came away with a 65-57 double overtime victory over Lakeview Christian (12-9) Jan. 31. It has gone to overtime in three of its last five games.
“They’re a team that’s much improved from when we played them, but hopefully we’re much improved,” said Comer. “... the longer we let them hang around the more confident they’re going to get, and the more dangerous team they’re going to be to play against. So obviously our goal is to go out and take care of business early ...
“Once we get going I think we’re going to be all right, and the sooner we get going the better it’s going to be for us.”
“All season we’ve kind of had a letdown at the end of the game,” added senior forward Chelsea DeBoy. “We’ve been working in practice a lot that we can’t let down at all.”[[In-content Ad]]vs. Jay County
Dec. 30, 2004 - Scored 11 points in 52-31 victory.
Feb. 12, 2005 - Finished with 20 points, including six of her team’s final eight, to lead Elwood to a 58-48 win for its first sectional title since 1976.
Dec. 21, 2005 - Racked up 22 points in the final six minutes to finish with 36 as she led the Panthers back from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit for a 58-51 victory.
Season/career
Set the Elwood single-game scoring record with 42 points against Mississinewa Jan. 21.
Has hit 35 3-pointers this year and is shooting 73 percent from the foul line.
Ranks fourth in the state in scoring with 24.4 points per game.
Is the Panthers’ all-time leading scorer with 1,631 points as of Jan. 30.
“How do you stop Kyleigh Jones?”
Neither coach Shelly Renbarger of Jones’ Elwood Panthers nor Jay County coach Kirk Comer showed any interest in talking about a possible sectional championship match-up, wanting to avoid any possible bad karma of overlooking a semifinal opponent. And both coaches have teams which have had a history of struggling against sub-par competition early in the sectional.
“I know nothing about Elwood,” said Comer when first asked about Jones and the 18-4 Panthers prior to practice Wednesday afternoon. “My focus is totally on Mississinewa.”
Jay County (10-10) will play the host Indians (2-18) in the second of two semifinal games at the Class 3A girls basketball sectional tournament at Mississinewa Friday at 7:30 p.m. Elwood will take on Blackford (11-10) in the first semifinal contest at 6 p.m.
But barring a significant upset in those games, Jones will be the key to who walks away with the title.
While the games between Jay County and Elwood have gotten closer and closer over the last two seasons, Jones has gotten progressively better against the Patriots.
She had just 11 points in Elwood’s regular-season blowout win over Jay County a year ago before nailing down 20 points in the Panthers’ 58-48 victory in the 2005 sectional championship game.
And her coup de grace came Dec. 21. With her team trailing 42-33 she came to life, scoring 22 points in the final six minutes to lead Elwood to a 58-51 victory. She hit four 3-pointers during the stretch, made all of her 13 free-throw tries in the game and finished with 36 points.
Although reluctant to do so, Comer discussed a possible rematch.
“What I can tell you is that if we were both fortunate enough to get there again we would do things different than we did the time before,” he said. “We held back some during the regular season. Whether those things would be good enough to contain her enough, we would just have to see. I would love to have the opportunity to play them again in the finals.”
In the first meeting this season Jay County tried to always keep a fresh body defending Jones, with Sara Garringer, Cassandra Huelskamp, Abby Loy, Dana Horn and Theresa Reinhart all getting a crack at her. She had just 14 points and was 1-of-6 from 3-point range through the first 26 minutes, but could not be stopped with the game on the line.
Comer said if his team gets another chance against the Panthers two players will be assigned specifically to Jones. Whether the Patriots double team her or not is a different story.
“We tried some things last year and some other girls stepped up and hurt us,” Comer added. “We’ve studied a lot more this year ... we’re going to have to give something to get something. Last year, for a half, we chose the right thing, then it ended up hurting us.
“We want to be sure that when we give, we give the right things.”
Jones, the No. 4 scorer in the state at 24.4 points per game, has only served to boost her aura since the big finish against the Patriots. She scored a career-high 42 points Jan. 21 against Mississinewa, and is the Panthers’ all-time leading scorer with more than 1,600 career points.
Garringer — Jay County’s leader with 11.3 points per game, 3.1 assists and a 48-percent mark from 3-point range — said she feels prepared for another battle with Jones and the Panthers. She also thinks the team is more confident after being so close this year, as compared to 2004-05 when Elwood won the regular-season battle by 21 points.
“We’ve been working a lot on team defense and help side and stopping the penetration earlier before the post has to come and help,” said Garringer. “I think we’re really prepared for her to try and drive the lane. She’s going to have to kill us from the outside ...”
Renbarger, whose squad blew the doors off Tipton in a 67-28 opening-round win Tuesday, said its great to have a player with Jones’ capability to take over a game. But she would also rather not see her team down by nine points in the fourth quarter.
“If we were to face Jay County, I think we need to make better decisions offensively,” said Renbarger, whose team had 16 turnovers and just five assists in its regular-season win. “And we’ll probably go with a little different defensive scheme.”
Comer and Renbarger don’t want to look ahead to that possible title battle because they know their history.
Before Jay County won the first of its back-to-back sectional titles under then-coach Lea Selvey in 2002-03, it nearly got dumped in the semifinal round, barely surviving for a 37-34 victory over a 1-20 Tipton squad. A year later the Patriots blew a 16-point lead against 3-17 Mississinewa and needed a Lisa Weitzel buzzer-beater to force overtime in an eventual 61-50 win.
Elwood has had its share of semifinal struggles under Renbarger. Last season it needed overtime to defeat Delta 46-44 before beating Jay County for the sectional title. And in 2003-04 the Panthers were upset by Delta 50-43 in overtime.
On paper, Renbarger’s squad faces the more difficult of the semifinal challenges Friday night against Blackford. Elwood beat the Bruins by just one point in December as Jones was hurt by some early foul trouble and sat the bench most of the opening half.
Blackford also “shot the ball very well,” said Bruin coach Bruce Ruble. “The Jones girl got into a little bit of foul trouble. It was just one of those nights where she was a little off.
“They’re an awfully good basketball team and we’ll have to play one of our better basketball games to win.”
The Bruins needed overtime to defeat Delta 59-53 Tuesday night to earn their rematch with Elwood. They are led by Lyndsey Osborn (14.6 ppg, 4.9 apg) and the No. 11 rebounder in the state Kasey Michael (13.5 ppg, 11.4 rpg).
The Patriots would probably not mind seeing Blackford in the finals, having won the regular-season game 54-27 as the Bruins went without a field goal in the second half. Comer said keeping Michael and company off the boards would be the key to being able to come away with a victory again.
To get to the finals against either squad Jay County will have to survive its semifinal game against the host Indians, who it easily defeated 60-35 Nov. 22. Samantha Justus had 11 points in that losing effort, and Kelsey Barrett and Heather Swarts each added nine.
Mississinewa (2-18) won just one of its first 18 games, but came away with a 65-57 double overtime victory over Lakeview Christian (12-9) Jan. 31. It has gone to overtime in three of its last five games.
“They’re a team that’s much improved from when we played them, but hopefully we’re much improved,” said Comer. “... the longer we let them hang around the more confident they’re going to get, and the more dangerous team they’re going to be to play against. So obviously our goal is to go out and take care of business early ...
“Once we get going I think we’re going to be all right, and the sooner we get going the better it’s going to be for us.”
“All season we’ve kind of had a letdown at the end of the game,” added senior forward Chelsea DeBoy. “We’ve been working in practice a lot that we can’t let down at all.”[[In-content Ad]]vs. Jay County
Dec. 30, 2004 - Scored 11 points in 52-31 victory.
Feb. 12, 2005 - Finished with 20 points, including six of her team’s final eight, to lead Elwood to a 58-48 win for its first sectional title since 1976.
Dec. 21, 2005 - Racked up 22 points in the final six minutes to finish with 36 as she led the Panthers back from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit for a 58-51 victory.
Season/career
Set the Elwood single-game scoring record with 42 points against Mississinewa Jan. 21.
Has hit 35 3-pointers this year and is shooting 73 percent from the foul line.
Ranks fourth in the state in scoring with 24.4 points per game.
Is the Panthers’ all-time leading scorer with 1,631 points as of Jan. 30.
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