Cavs top Patriots (01/24/07)

Jay County's girls basketball team was frustrated when it lost three in a row and a stretch of four in five tries. Coldwater likely had little sympathy, as it dropped eight consecutive games during its rough stretch this year.

Both teams had since bounced back with big wins, but the visiting Cavaliers got the upper hand Tuesday as they topped the Patriots 44-36.

Senior Kendra Robbins was big throughout Tuesday's game as she racked up 17 points and 15 rebounds for Coldwater, leading the visiting team to 43 percent shooting from the field. Fellow senior Tasha Stucke scored seven of her 11 points in the final 4:25 of the game to keep the Cavaliers in control.

The Patriots (11-6) had turned around their shooting in back-to-back wins over South Adams and Norwell, hitting for better than 40 percent in each game. But they slipped back to 28 percent against Coldwater, including 5-of-26 (19 percent) from 3-point range.

"We've got to look at the positives, the things we did well," said JCHS coach Kirk Comer. "I thought we did a good job on the defensive end again. We held our own on the boards ... We just didn't shoot the ball very well.

"And a lot of that is because we were shooting at the wrong times in the wrong places. Our ball movement wasn't good. We weren't getting any inside-outside play in the first half at all, no penetration, and we were just settling for threes. If you're hitting, that's good, and if you're not, that's not good. And tonight it wasn't so good."

Still, Jay County led for a good portion of the opening half and trailed just 22-20 at the intermission. It fell behind by as many as six in the third quarter, but Dana Horn's 3-pointer off a Cassandra Huelskamp assist with two seconds left made it 31-29.

Horn split a pair of foul shots, which put the Patriots within one, to open the fourth quarter, but that was as close as they got. They missed three free throws during the first 4:31 of the period and shot just 2-of-11 from the field in the final quarter.

In the meantime Stucke hit five fourth-quarter free throws and scored her final field goal off an Ali Wenning assist, all in the last 4:25 of the game.

"That's typical Tash," said Fisher. "She's going to step up. She's going to ring the bell when she has to. She's continued to do that her whole career."

Coldwater opened the season with three straight wins, then fell into a spiral after dropping a 43-32 decision to Fort Recovery Dec. 14.

But heading into Jay County the Cavaliers had won back-to-back games, including a 49-47 upset of Midwest Athletic Conference powerhouse New Knoxville (11-4).

"We went on that eight-game streak there where we just didn't play like we thought we were capable of playing," said Coldwater coach Nick Fisher, whose squad is now 6-8. "You play the way you practice. We started practicing well about two-and-a-half weeks ago and I think it's showed. Getting two wins last week gave us the confidence to play like we're capable of playing.

"I'm just happy with the way we're playing. Jay County and New Knoxville are two quality teams."

Robbins keyed the Cavaliers' third straight win with a consistent effort, scoring in every quarter and finishing 7-of-11 from the field. Her 15 rebounds were nearly three times as many as any single play on the Patriot squad.

Jay County also seemed reluctant to take the ball to the basket against Robbins, a 6-footer, instead tossing up five more shots from beyond the arc than it took from two-point range.

"We've got to do a lot better job of finding the open shots from the ball movement inside-outside," said Comer. "We let their zone dictate what we were going to do. You can't do that."

Senior Sara Garringer was the only Patriot to reach double figures as she scored 15 points. No one else was close as Huelskamp finished second on the squad with five.

Lindsey Wellman finished with a team-high six rebounds, Garringer grabbed five boards and Horn had four assists.

Junior varsity

Jay County had a 10-point lead after the opening six minutes and dominated the second half in a 38-18 win over the Cavaliers.

The Patriots put up 14 points in the first quarter only to have their lead slip to 18-12 at halftime. But they limited Coldwater to six second-half points to pull away.

Pazia Speed powered Jay County with 13 points, and Brittany Mann joined her in double figures with 10. Amber Edmundson added six points.

Rachel Geier's four points were a team-high for the Cavaliers. Katie Lefeld and Renee Kanney each added three.[[In-content Ad]]