Jay Co. finishes Squaws (11/20/04)

PORTLAND — When crunch time arrived, Jay County was ready.

The Bellmont Squaws trailed almost the entire way, but repeatedly clawed back into the contest. They were down by just three with less than a minute remaining, but the host Patriots hit 5-of-6 free throws in a 23-second span to seal their second win of the year by a 53-45 tally.

“I think we took a huge step tonight,” said Jay County coach Kirk Comer, whose team improved to 2-1. “We were able to take control. We didn’t make the huge mistakes at the end and we put the game away. I thought we matured a lot tonight as a team.”

Bellmont (0-3) trailed 48-40 with 3:20 to play, but got a pair of free throws by Angelica Thieme and an old-fashioned 3-point play from Liz Thatcher to pull with in three. Both teams struggled over the next minute, but after three timeouts Jay County put the Squaws away.

Senior Jamie Bruggeman, who finished with a game-high 17 points, went to the line with 55 seconds left and split a pair of free throws. But, no one boxed her out on her second try and she grabbed the miss. Her put-back attempt was off the mark, but Theresa Reinhart grabbed a second offensive rebound and was fouled.

Reinhart buried both of her foul shots, and Bruggeman added two more to seal the game after an Amy Butcher turnover.

“I thought it was short so I just followed my shot,” said Bruggeman. “Luckily Theresa (Reinhart) got the rebound after that.”

Bellmont coach Lou Koning chalked up the loss to a lack of varsity experience. His team went without a hoop for a 4:20 stretch as Jay County built its fourth quarter lead, and also failed to scored in the final 2:09 of the contest.

“The last two or three minutes were not good for us,” said Koning. “It goes back to experience. They’ve got a lot of experience and we don’t, and they made the plays and we didn’t.

“Down the stretch they played better than we did and they deserved to win.”

Bruggeman opened with a flurry, scoring eight of the Patriots’ first 12 points as they led by as many as seven points twice in the first half. However, each time Bellmont came back to tie the contest, and trailed just 29-27 at halftime.

Jay County went up 35-27 as Renae Laux and Markie Runyon combined to score the first six points after the intermission. The Squaws tied the contest at 40-40 with a hoop by Brittany Cook to start the fourth quarter, but the Patriots opened the lead again and made the free throws in the final minute to preserve the win.

Bruggeman shared a team-high of six rebounds. She also had two assists.

Sara Garringer added seven assists and six rebounds, and Markie Runyon had eight points and three blocks. Leah Gasparovic scored seven points, and Reinhart and Laux each had six.

“It feels great,” said Bruggeman of the victory, the first over Bellmont in her three varsity seasons. “We have the talent to do it. We just have to come out and show everyone how we can play basketball.”

Bellmont got 12 rebounds and two blocks from Brittany Cook, but the six-foot senior struggled to put the ball in the basket. She made her only 3-point attempt, but went just 2-of-10 from inside the arc as she finished with eight points.

Amanda Miller was the lone Squaw in double figures, hitting 3-of-6 3-pointers and finishing with 11 points. Emily Conrad added eight points, and Amy Butcher had seven.

Jay County will return to action tonight when it hosts Winchester at 6 p.m.

Junior varsity

A great first quarter lifted the Jay County junior varsity team over Bellmont by a 44-34 score.

The Patriots (3-0) outscored Bellmont 18-3 in the first quarter to take command of the game. The final three quarters were fairly even, with the Squaws never cutting the deficit to fewer than eight points.

Abby Loy paced Jay County with 11 points, and Cassandra Huelskamp also reached double figures with 10. Natasha Stout scored six points, and Miranda Betz added five.

Ashley Hammond led Bellmont with 11 points, and Kylee Ehrsam had six.[[In-content Ad]]