Falcons fly away in 2nd quarter (11/24/03)

WINCHESTER — Five minutes of domination was enough for the Winchester Golden Falcons.

Winchester, tied for 10th in the most recent ICGSA Class 2A girls basketball poll, used a 15-0 run to open a lead in the second quarter. The Jay County Patriots spent the rest of the game trying to catch up, but couldn’t overcome the Golden Falcons’ awesome 3-point and free-throw shooting in a 67-58 defeat Saturday.

“(It was a) tough game,” said Jay County coach Lea Selvey. “We just had a small segment in that second quarter where we lost our composure.”

The Patriots (2-2) fell apart in that second period after holding a four-point lead at the first-quarter break.

Winchester got into the bonus with 6:20 to go in the half, and Kim Haffner hit four free throws to tie the game as Jay County began to unravel. Freshman Mallory McCormick followed with the first of her four 3-pointers in the contest, and Selvey was hit with a technical foul the next time down the floor.

McCormick promptly buried both foul shots — Winchester was a perfect 11-for-11 from the line in the first half — and the run was on.

Senior point guard Jenna Tudor converted a 3-point play, and Marcia Williams knocked down the first of her four 3-point bombs. The 15-0 run over a 4:50 span gave Winchester a 30-19 lead late in the first half.

Felisha Parr finally scored for the Patriots with 1:13 remaining before the break, but Williams drained another 3-point shot before the buzzer for a 12-point halftime lead. In all, the Golden Falcons outscored Jay County 20-4 in the quarter.

The Patriots pulled within six points several times in the second half, but the pattern remained the same with Winchester drilling free throws and 3-pointers. The Golden Falcons consistently found Williams and McCormick wide open beyond the arc as Jay County’s zone defense was slow to rotate.

“The girls did a nice job,” said Winchester coach Gary Horner, whose team shot 53 percent on 3-point and 88 percent from the foul line. “Our team is a good shooting team. That’s a pretty good percentage for most nights.”

Williams scored a game-high 20 points as the team shot 10-of-19 from 3-point range. Tudor scored 17 points, including a perfect 5-for-5 effort on free throws as the Golden Falcons finished 21-of-24 from the line as a team.

McCormick lit up Jay County from 3-point land, missing just one of her five attempts as she finished with 15 points.

Haffner also reached double-figures with 10 points. She added team highs of four assists and six rebounds in the game.

“We didn’t communicate sometimes on defense,” said Selvey. “We were slow on recovering. We knew they could shoot, but sometimes we just didn’t get out there.”

The Patriots were nearly as good as Winchester from the foul line (14-of-17), but couldn’t match its field-goal or 3-point accuracy.

They finished 6-of-17 from beyond the arc, and 19-of-50 (38 percent) from the field. Almost every one of Jay County’s 3-point attempts came on contested shots.

Lindsay Friddle had a huge night as she scored a career-high 18 points, which included a 3-of-5 effort from long range. She also had team highs of five rebounds and four assists.

Jamie Bruggeman matched her with four assists while adding 11 points. Felisha Parr also reached double figures with 10 points, and Parr and Sarah Dirksen each grabbed four rebounds.

Jay County will try to end its two-game losing skid Tuesday when it travels to Mississinewa (0-3) at 6 p.m.

Junior varsity

The Patriots rolled to a 32-19 victory over Winchester in junior varsity action Saturday.

Winchester was within six points after the third quarter, but Jay County quickly opened the lead. The Patriots pushed the advantage to 13, and neither team scored in the final minutes of the contest.

Sara Garringer paced Jay County with 11 points. Amber Champ scored eight points and Whitney Homan had six.

Alli Woodbury scored five points to lead the Golden Falcons. Corry Fritts and Jessica Fleming scored three points apiece.[[In-content Ad]]