Jay County girls face immediate test (11/08/2008)

There will be no easing into the season, no cupcake opening game to get ready for bigger challenges ahead.

The Patriots will start with perhaps their biggest challenge. And it will be a familiar one.

Jay County High School's girls basketball team lost just four times in the 2007-08 season. Two of those defeats came against Fort Wayne South Side - 62-58 in the season opener and 78-48 in a devastating sectional semifinal.

It will jump right back in against those same Archers, who open the season ranked seventh in Class 4A, starting the 2008-09 season Monday in Fort Wayne.

"I think we learn a lot," said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team trailed to South Side by just four at halftime in the sectional last season before runs of 9-0 and 12-0 helped send it to a 30-point defeat. "Our girls are very excited about playing Fort Wayne South. I don't think the second half of the sectional game last season was indicative of what (we are). We were much better than we showed in the second half.

"We're very excited. We're going there to win. We're not going there to play well. We're not going there to come close. We expect to go to Fort Wayne South Side and come back with a win."

That tall task will rest on the shoulders of four experienced starters.

Jay County, which went 18-4 a year ago, brings back its top two scorers from last season in junior forward Lindsey Wellman (11.9 points per game) and senior guard Kaelee Keller (10.6). Keller is also the top returning player in assists (2.8 per game), 3-point percentage (40), free-throw percentage (68) and steals (39).

Pazia Speed, a junior, will also start at guard after leading the team with 5.2 rebounds per contest last season. She also scored 7.2 points per game and shared the season high in steals with Keller and then-senior Abby Loy.

Senior guard Brittany Mann had 38 steals in 2007-08 and scored 3.6 points per game.

Those four players represent the bulk of the Patriots' experience as they all saw action in every game last season. Mackenzie Loy, the likely fifth starter, played in 13 games and took just nine field-goal attempts.

Cara Garringer saw significant playing time as her freshman year wore on, including a 14-point game. Senior Gina Muhlenkamp saw limited action in 18 games. Also coming off the bench this year will be sophomores Jordan McMillan and Erin Hunt, both of whom spent last season on the junior varsity squad.

"We're experienced. We're a team that has five girls that can score in double figures at different times," said Comer. "Our nucleus is maybe as strong as I've had.

"Our depth isn't what it was a year ago, but hopefully we can develop depth. We've got some really good young players who just need some playing time."

Jay County will likely need that depth as it has once again strengthened its schedule.

No longer on the docket are South Adams and Mississinawa Valley, teams the Patriots defeated by a combined 99 points last season. In place of those two, JCHS will play in the Bedford North Lawrence Tournament Dec. 27. That event includes the host Stars, Jay County's opening-round opponent, Anderson and Bloomington North.

The tournament comes during a brutal stretch for the Patriots. They will play at home just once from Nov. 26 through Jan. 12.

Comer said the key to getting through his tough schedule - it includes 10 teams that won 13 or more games last season - is rebounding.

"Even though last year we out-rebounded our opponents, we've got to do a better job," said Comer. "In the big games that we rebounded well, we were successful. I think that's the most important stat. ... I want to be a good rebounding team.

"We're going to send four to the defensive boards and ... five to the offensive boards at times and gamble some in certain situations. ... We want to try to average two shots per possession if need be."

Following the season-opening loss to South Side last season the Patriots ran off 13 straight victories. They were on a five-game winning streak before falling to the Archers again in the sectional tournament.

Jay County hasn't had a losing season since 2000-01, and has posted a pair of 15-plus victory efforts under Comer. He has led the Patriots to 59 wins in his four seasons, but just one sectional title (2006).

The tournament field is no easier this year with Marion (16-5 last season), Huntington North (14-10), Homestead and Fort Wayne North Side joining them in Class 4A's Sectional 6. But JCHS has high hopes of adding its fourth sectional title since 2003, and making a deep tournament run.

"We really think that we have a good opportunity to be successful," said Comer. "Our goal is to be playing the best basketball we can play at the end of the season. We're in such a tough sectional ...

"If we can be playing our best basketball at the end of the season and get through the sectional, the difference between 3A and 4A in my opinion is there is not that huge gap (from sectional to regional). You've got a chance to win at every level if you can win the sectional."[[In-content Ad]]