Flirting with perfection (01/31/06)

MUNCIE — Only the 2005 ice storm has been able to deny them victory.

With just one game remaining in their junior high careers, the East Jay eighth grade girls stand undefeated — only the force of nature keeping them from having more wins. Only one team, Fort Recovery, has even been able to stay within single digits this year.

“I think they biggest reason they’re that successful is the fact they’ve played together for so long,” said coach Rick Wellman, whose squad beat Fort Recovery by five points after being tied at halftime. “They played AAU together for years. They’re just a team that really wants to compete.”

And enjoy themselves along the way.

“It’s just fun playing the games,” said Shelby Gierhart.

The Chiefs pulled within a game of a perfect career Monday night as they topped the Muncie Northside Titans for the second time in three days, 38-27. They are now 15-0 this season following an 11-0 campaign last year in which several games were canceled because of the January ice storm.

They can complete their run to 27-0 Wednesday when they close the season hosting Muncie Wilson. They would be the second East Jay eighth grade girls team in three seasons to finish undefeated as the 2003 class — currently sophomores — went unbeaten in eighth grade after a one-loss seventh grade campaign.

Monday’s game was typical for East Jay, which never trailed after scoring the first four points and taking an 8-2 lead. They shot an amazing 17-of-25 (68 percent) from the field, a mark any team at any level would envy.

Lindsey Wellman scored 16 of her team’s points on 7-of-9 shooting, and Pazia Speed added 10 points. But while Wellman and Speed have carried the bulk of the scoring load this season, Rick Wellman said the squad’s biggest asset has been its interchangeable parts.

The victory over Northside illustrated his point as the starting five stumbled in the third period. They let the lead dwindle from 10 points to six, and the coach wasn’t happy with the way they were handling the ball against the Titan’s full-court defense.

“Tonight was a perfect example,” he said. “We were dribbling the ball too much against pressure.

So, he went to his second five.

“We scored a couple of buckets against the pressure, but also it gave the first group a chance to watch and understand,” Wellman continued. “Then when they came back on the floor it was obvious that they were catching on.”

The East Jay reserves kept the lead at six points at the end of the third quarter, and when the starters returned they put the game away. Wellman, Speed and Gierhart (four points) combined to score the first 10 points of the final period as the Chiefs went up by as many as 16 before Northside closed with six straight points for the final margin.

Speed finished the game with four assists and three rebounds, and Wellman grabbed four boards. Liz Walker added four points.

“We just didn’t have our heads in the game,” said Lindsey Wellman of the third-quarter slump. “We came out like we knew we were going to win, and that’s not what you’re supposed to do.”

The players say it has been “awesome” to be part of what they hope will be back-to-back undefeated seasons. But the team of Wellman, Speed, Gierhart, Walker, Felicia Bentz, Kayla Phillips, Loryn Horn, Erica Butcher, Kaylee Davis and Jaime Klinger also are aware their time together is almost up.

“It’s really sad,” said Speed of the season’s imminent end. “Next year we’re going to get all split up.”

It’s also a bit emotional for the coach, “because I’ve had some of these girls since they were in fifth grade,” said Wellman. “What they’ve accomplished, it’s pretty tremendous really. But it’s also coming to an end, and I think a lot of them are talking about that. It’s a great accomplishment, but they also realize that it’s about over.”

No doubt there will be plenty of hugs after Wednesday’s season finale. They just hope those hugs will be in celebration of one last victory.[[In-content Ad]]