Gas City plus-.500 (11/23/05)

GAS CITY — This Indiana town is home to a speedway. But the Patriots treated Tuesday’s game more like a drag race.

The Jay County girls basketball team bolted from the start line as soon as the tree showed green, scoring the first 15 points of the game in a 60-35 victory over the host Mississinewa Indians.

“I thought we came out ready to go,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team jumped above .500 for the first time this season at 3-2. “We told the girls before the game, ‘We can’t overlook anybody.’ ... So, I thought we came out focused ...

“Early I thought our intensity was really good and we forced a lot of turnovers.”

The Patriots opened the game on fire, starting with a 3-pointer from Sara Garringer on an assist from Dana Horn with just 49 seconds off the clock. Theresa Reinhart scored the next three points, then Horn and Markie Runyon each added a bucket for a 10-0 Jay County lead when Mississnewa called its first timeout at the 4:31 mark.

Cassandra Huelskamp buried a 3-pointer on the first possession after the timeout, and Runyon scored again before Heather Swarts finally put points on the board for the Indians. She came up with a steal and managed a lay-up with 3:16 to go in the period, but it would be her team’s only field goal of the first quarter.

Jay County forced turnovers on seven of Mississinewa’s first eight possessions en route to the 15-0 lead. It was up 19-3 after the opening eight minutes, thanks in part to holding the Indians to 1-of-8 shooting.

After giving up the first two points of the second quarter, the Patriots added seven more in a row — four from Miranda Betz — for a 26-5 advantage.

“We’ve got to solve the problem of beating some presses,” said Misssissinewa coach Nikki Percy, whose team gave the ball away 10 times in the first quarter and 21 in the opening half. “We’ve got to deal with pressure with a little more composure than we have been so far.”

Jay County benefited from the pressure defense with a lot of easy, fast-break hoops as it reached the 60-point plateau for the fourth straight game.

Runyon was in double figures for the third game in a row as she and Garringer shared the game high with 12 points apiece. Runyon, who finished 6-of-7 from the field, posted a team-high eight rebounds while Garringer had a team-best five assists.

Huelskamp scored nine points, and Betz didn’t miss a shot all night as she scored a career-high eight. Betz made her lone field goal attempt and led another solid effort from the foul line by making all six of her free throws.

Chelsea DeBoy and Abby Loy each had five rebounds, and Horn notched three assists.

Comer said he was pleased to get the victory, but wished his team could have closed out the game better. Although Mississinewa never got close enough to threaten the Patriots, who led by as many as 33 points, they did put together a 13-2 run during the fourth quarter.

“Once we got the lead we let up, which is another sign of a young team,” Comer said, whose squad forced 34 turnovers but also coughed up the ball 24 times. “We’ve got to learn that you can’t do that. I was really disappointed with our turnovers.

“I was very disappointed in the finish. But overall its a win and we’ve just got to get better from here.”

The Indians (0-4) were led by Samantha Justus, who finished with nine points. She also had a team-high eight rebounds.

Kelsey Barrett and Heather Swarts each added nine points, but Mississinewa shot just 28 percent for the game.

Junior varsity

The Patriots allowed just three first-half points as they rolled to a 35-15 victory over Mississinewa.

Gina Muhlenkamp scored eight points, six of which came on a pair of 3-pointers. Natasha Stout had seven points, Sara Westgerdes scored six and Brittany O’Dell added five.

Fallon Price led Mississinewa with four points. Five other Indians each had two points.[[In-content Ad]]