July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Garringer, Huelskamp lead Jay to title (02/13/06)
JCHS girls basketball
Garringer, Huelskamp lead Jay to title (02/13/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
GAS CITY — Deja vu.
Six minutes left, nine-point lead.
At mid-season the Patriots lost control and a Herculean effort from one of the best players in the state did them in. Saturday night, the poise of champions came shining through.
Behind dual 20-point efforts from Sara Garringer and Cassandra Huelskamp, Jay County defeated the Elwood Panthers 54-43 at Mississinewa to reclaim the Class 3A sectional crown for the third time in four seasons.
For Huelskamp, a sophomore, the feeling could be summed up in one word: “Awesome”.
“I mean, you just won sectional, you can’t not feel good about yourself,” added Garringer, a junior.
While Elwood’s Kyleigh Jones stole the show on the Patriots’ home court during the regular-season, it was Huelskamp and Garringer who starred with the title on the line.
They each shot 50 percent from the field, scoring 40 of their team’s 54 points. They were a combined 13-of-14 from the foul line, hitting 7-of-8 in the final 1:05 to cap the victory. And they shared the team high of seven rebounds.
“Sara Garringer and Cassandra Huelskamp did an outstanding job, not only on the offensive end, but on the defensive end also,” said coach Kirk Comer, who earned his first title at JCHS after winning four at Union City. “Cassandra had a tough job of guarding Jones a lot of the time, and then Sara was the back-up. So both of them had really tough jobs defensively. They exerted a lot of energy ... the whole team just really stepped up big time.”
With six minutes to go in the game the Patriots were in precisely the same position as two months earlier, holding a nine-point lead. But there was no 22-point outburst from Jones, and no rash of turnovers as had been the case for Jay County in its close losses this season.
The Patriots (12-10) had a short stint of struggling against Elwood’s pressure defense in the fourth quarter, but quickly calmed down after a time-out. Garringer was strong with the ball as she played the point, and after getting just two foul shots in the first three quarters Jay County hit 15-of-18 in the fourth as the Panthers never got closer than six points.
In two sectional games the Patriots made 31 of 36 foul shots (86 percent).
Elwood (19-5) gave away its easy chances, missing its first nine foul shots and finishing 1-for-12. Jones, who was 13-for-13 against Jay County during the regular season, missed all of her six tries including the front end of two one-and-ones.
“That’s just not us,” said Elwood coach Shelly Renbarger, whose squad defeated the Patriots last season for just its second sectional title in school history. “We even met at the gym at 5:30 and we shot a half-hour of free throws and it still didn’t make a difference. Kyleigh just wasn’t on tonight ... It was just one of those nights that it just wasn’t a good night for us, and give Jay County credit.”
Jay County took 25 fewer field-goal attempts than the Panthers — it made only five two-point goals in the game — but won thanks to the foul-shooting differential and a sizzling effort from beyond the 3-point arc.
Huelskamp hit her first three 3-point attempts, scoring the Patriots’ final nine points of the first half. She made another to open the second half — giving her 12 consecutive Jay County points — and when Elwood double-teamed her she assisted on Garringer’s second successful long-range shot.
In all Huelskamp, who set a school record with seven 3-pointers in a game earlier this season, went 5-of-7 on long balls. Garringer was 2-for-3, and Whitney Homan and Theresa Reinhart each added one for a 9-of-17 (53 percent) team effort.
No one could have known it at the time, but the game may well have been over when Huelskamp’s first 3-pointer — off one of Garringer’s five assists — swished through the net with 3:24 to play in the first half.
“After I made the first one I knew they were going to come, definitely,” said Huelskamp, who said she was surprised at the major role she played in the victory. “I wasn’t expecting that this year at all.”
The Patriots advance to the Peru regional where they will play ninth-ranked Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (20-4) Saturday at noon. Luers defeated Fort Wayne Concordia 49-48 at Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger to win its sectional title Saturday.
Jay County’s defensive scheme against Jones and the Panthers proved successful. They played the first half in a 3-2 zone, pressuring Jones when she brought the ball up the floor. In the second half Huelskamp was manned up on the Ball State signee most of the time, getting help from her teammates whenever Jones tried to drive to the basket.
The result was a 6-of-19 effort from the field for Jones for 15 points, nine below her season average and 21 fewer than she scored against the Patriots in December. The Panthers were just 19-of-58 (33 percent) from the field and 4-of-17 (24 percent) from 3-point range as a team, and their 43 points marked their third-lowest output of the season.
“We played 32 minutes of solid basketball,” said Garringer. “Our defense won the game for us. We played the best team defense we’ve played all year. We worked for the past four months to be right here.”
A third sectional title in four seasons seemed like it might become a long shot early on as Elwood patiently worked against the 3-2 zone. It built a 9-2 lead, forcing Comer to take a pair of time-outs as Jay County managed just one field goal and turned the ball over six times in the opening seven minutes.
But after the second time-out the Patriots scored the final four points of the opening period to trail just 9-6. They pulled even on Huelskamp’s barrage of 3-pointers to end the first half, and never trailed after her triple 37 seconds into the third quarter.
“We could have folded when it was 9-2, and these girls weren’t going to do that,” said Comer. “I wasn’t sure we were going to win at that point, but I was sure we weren’t going to quit.
“I’m really happy for the girls, because they have worked extremely hard. We toughened up the schedule, which took away some wins, but I think it made us a better team in the long run.
“I’ve been telling the girls all year, ‘If we’re fortunate enough to win the sectional, we’ve prepared to play in the regional.’ We’re not going just to play. We’re starting to gel right now, and we’re going to ride this as long as we can.”[[In-content Ad]]
Six minutes left, nine-point lead.
At mid-season the Patriots lost control and a Herculean effort from one of the best players in the state did them in. Saturday night, the poise of champions came shining through.
Behind dual 20-point efforts from Sara Garringer and Cassandra Huelskamp, Jay County defeated the Elwood Panthers 54-43 at Mississinewa to reclaim the Class 3A sectional crown for the third time in four seasons.
For Huelskamp, a sophomore, the feeling could be summed up in one word: “Awesome”.
“I mean, you just won sectional, you can’t not feel good about yourself,” added Garringer, a junior.
While Elwood’s Kyleigh Jones stole the show on the Patriots’ home court during the regular-season, it was Huelskamp and Garringer who starred with the title on the line.
They each shot 50 percent from the field, scoring 40 of their team’s 54 points. They were a combined 13-of-14 from the foul line, hitting 7-of-8 in the final 1:05 to cap the victory. And they shared the team high of seven rebounds.
“Sara Garringer and Cassandra Huelskamp did an outstanding job, not only on the offensive end, but on the defensive end also,” said coach Kirk Comer, who earned his first title at JCHS after winning four at Union City. “Cassandra had a tough job of guarding Jones a lot of the time, and then Sara was the back-up. So both of them had really tough jobs defensively. They exerted a lot of energy ... the whole team just really stepped up big time.”
With six minutes to go in the game the Patriots were in precisely the same position as two months earlier, holding a nine-point lead. But there was no 22-point outburst from Jones, and no rash of turnovers as had been the case for Jay County in its close losses this season.
The Patriots (12-10) had a short stint of struggling against Elwood’s pressure defense in the fourth quarter, but quickly calmed down after a time-out. Garringer was strong with the ball as she played the point, and after getting just two foul shots in the first three quarters Jay County hit 15-of-18 in the fourth as the Panthers never got closer than six points.
In two sectional games the Patriots made 31 of 36 foul shots (86 percent).
Elwood (19-5) gave away its easy chances, missing its first nine foul shots and finishing 1-for-12. Jones, who was 13-for-13 against Jay County during the regular season, missed all of her six tries including the front end of two one-and-ones.
“That’s just not us,” said Elwood coach Shelly Renbarger, whose squad defeated the Patriots last season for just its second sectional title in school history. “We even met at the gym at 5:30 and we shot a half-hour of free throws and it still didn’t make a difference. Kyleigh just wasn’t on tonight ... It was just one of those nights that it just wasn’t a good night for us, and give Jay County credit.”
Jay County took 25 fewer field-goal attempts than the Panthers — it made only five two-point goals in the game — but won thanks to the foul-shooting differential and a sizzling effort from beyond the 3-point arc.
Huelskamp hit her first three 3-point attempts, scoring the Patriots’ final nine points of the first half. She made another to open the second half — giving her 12 consecutive Jay County points — and when Elwood double-teamed her she assisted on Garringer’s second successful long-range shot.
In all Huelskamp, who set a school record with seven 3-pointers in a game earlier this season, went 5-of-7 on long balls. Garringer was 2-for-3, and Whitney Homan and Theresa Reinhart each added one for a 9-of-17 (53 percent) team effort.
No one could have known it at the time, but the game may well have been over when Huelskamp’s first 3-pointer — off one of Garringer’s five assists — swished through the net with 3:24 to play in the first half.
“After I made the first one I knew they were going to come, definitely,” said Huelskamp, who said she was surprised at the major role she played in the victory. “I wasn’t expecting that this year at all.”
The Patriots advance to the Peru regional where they will play ninth-ranked Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (20-4) Saturday at noon. Luers defeated Fort Wayne Concordia 49-48 at Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger to win its sectional title Saturday.
Jay County’s defensive scheme against Jones and the Panthers proved successful. They played the first half in a 3-2 zone, pressuring Jones when she brought the ball up the floor. In the second half Huelskamp was manned up on the Ball State signee most of the time, getting help from her teammates whenever Jones tried to drive to the basket.
The result was a 6-of-19 effort from the field for Jones for 15 points, nine below her season average and 21 fewer than she scored against the Patriots in December. The Panthers were just 19-of-58 (33 percent) from the field and 4-of-17 (24 percent) from 3-point range as a team, and their 43 points marked their third-lowest output of the season.
“We played 32 minutes of solid basketball,” said Garringer. “Our defense won the game for us. We played the best team defense we’ve played all year. We worked for the past four months to be right here.”
A third sectional title in four seasons seemed like it might become a long shot early on as Elwood patiently worked against the 3-2 zone. It built a 9-2 lead, forcing Comer to take a pair of time-outs as Jay County managed just one field goal and turned the ball over six times in the opening seven minutes.
But after the second time-out the Patriots scored the final four points of the opening period to trail just 9-6. They pulled even on Huelskamp’s barrage of 3-pointers to end the first half, and never trailed after her triple 37 seconds into the third quarter.
“We could have folded when it was 9-2, and these girls weren’t going to do that,” said Comer. “I wasn’t sure we were going to win at that point, but I was sure we weren’t going to quit.
“I’m really happy for the girls, because they have worked extremely hard. We toughened up the schedule, which took away some wins, but I think it made us a better team in the long run.
“I’ve been telling the girls all year, ‘If we’re fortunate enough to win the sectional, we’ve prepared to play in the regional.’ We’re not going just to play. We’re starting to gel right now, and we’re going to ride this as long as we can.”[[In-content Ad]]
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