July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Jay County to defend title (02/12/05)
JCHS girls basketball
Jay County to defend title (02/12/05)
By By RAY COONEY-
ELWOOD — It didn’t look as nice as Kirk Comer would have liked. But at least the Jay County Patriots didn’t have to go through the nail-biting scenarios it has in each of the last two seasons.
Jay County advanced to its third straight sectional championship game with a 45-36 victory over the Blackford Bruins Friday.
“I think we were a little rusty,” said Comer, who is in his first year heading the JCHS program. “We’ve had some time off. It’s been a while since we’ve played a game.”
The Patriots (16-5) won’t have to wait long to play another one as they will try for a third consecutive title tonight against the host Elwood Panthers (19-3) at 7:30 p.m. Elwood advanced to the championship contest with a 47-44 overtime win over the Delta Eagles Friday.
Jay County, which needed overtime to beat a three-win Mississinewa team in the tournament last season and barely edged a one-win Tipton crew the year earlier, trailed 15-14 midway through the second quarter. It was looking at much the same situation as it had during its regular-season meeting with the Bruins in which it led by just three points at halftime before winning by 22.
The scenario played out again Friday night, as the Patriots scored the final six points of the first half and went on a 20-2 run overall to pull away.
Senior Jamie Bruggeman started the run with a pair of free throws with 3:30 left in the first half. Sara Garringer capped it with a hoop on an assist from Bruggeman as Blackford went scoreless for more than six minutes.
“We got by this game, but we didn’t play as well as we could have,” said Bruggeman, one of three Jay County players to finish with 11 points.
Blackford managed to pull to within 10 points on a couple of occasions in the second half, but never got any closer.
Bruggeman hit three free throws in the final minute, finishing 7-of-9 from the foul line en route to her 11 points. Fellow senior Lisa Weitzel notched three 3-pointers and a pair of free throws for her 11 points and Sara Garringer went 5-of-8 from the field and also scored 11 points.
Bruggeman also had a team-high of six rebounds, and senior Renae Laux added five.
“Not too many times this year have we had three girls in double figures,” said Comer. “It wasn’t the prettiest game, but its a win and we move on. We just have to build on this.”
Both teams made 14 field goals, but Jay County won the game at the foul line. It made 14 free throws compared to the Bruins’ 4-of-11 effort.
The Patriots also did a better job of taking care of the ball, finishing with just 14 turnovers while Blackford coughed up the ball 22 times.
Kasey Michael paced Blackford with 15 points, and Shanda Godfrey added 10. Michael and Courtney Dickey each had 10 rebounds to lead the Bruins to a 33-25 advantage on the glass.
“Same old thing,” said Blackford coach Bruce Ruble. “It was the third quarter for us. That’s been our Achilles all year. ...
“Our kids played hard. This is the hardest they’ve played all year. We just played a team that was just better than us.”
To win a third straight sectional championship, Jay County will have to be better than it was the first time it played the Elwood Panthers. It lost 52-31 at Elwood Dec. 30 in a game in which it was outscored by 15-4 in the third period.
Comer said the key to victory will be more in the mind than in the body.
“I think the big thing is that we’ve got to believe we can win,” he said. “I think we do. If we come in (tonight) with the right attitude (we can).”[[In-content Ad]]ELWOOD — When the Elwood Panthers put the ball in Kyleigh Jones’ hands, they dominated. When they took it away from her, it was a different story.
The Delta Eagles nearly scored an overtime upset over the host Panthers for the second straight season, but Jones 27-point effort bailed out her team for a 47-44 victory in sectional semifinal action Friday.
Elwood (19-3) moves on to face Jay County (16-5), which knocked off Blackford in the second semifinal game Friday 45-36.
Instead of letting Jones, who is sixth in Class 3A in scoring at 19.2 points per game, run the offense, the Panthers went away from her for much of the first half and led just 18-17 at the break. They handed the ball back to their outstanding point guard in the third quarter, and she scored 14 of their 22 points for a double-digit lead. But, again in the fourth quarter they went away from their star, and Delta rallied back with a 10-0 run and eventuall forced overtime.
Finally in the extra session Elwood went back to Jones and she scored all of their four points to complete the victory.
Morgan Groover also reached double figures for the Panthers with 11 points.
Sarah Miller had 17 points for Delta, which finished 8-15. Chandra Hart had 11 points, Malorie Smith notched eight and Kelly Costello added seven.
Jay County advanced to its third straight sectional championship game with a 45-36 victory over the Blackford Bruins Friday.
“I think we were a little rusty,” said Comer, who is in his first year heading the JCHS program. “We’ve had some time off. It’s been a while since we’ve played a game.”
The Patriots (16-5) won’t have to wait long to play another one as they will try for a third consecutive title tonight against the host Elwood Panthers (19-3) at 7:30 p.m. Elwood advanced to the championship contest with a 47-44 overtime win over the Delta Eagles Friday.
Jay County, which needed overtime to beat a three-win Mississinewa team in the tournament last season and barely edged a one-win Tipton crew the year earlier, trailed 15-14 midway through the second quarter. It was looking at much the same situation as it had during its regular-season meeting with the Bruins in which it led by just three points at halftime before winning by 22.
The scenario played out again Friday night, as the Patriots scored the final six points of the first half and went on a 20-2 run overall to pull away.
Senior Jamie Bruggeman started the run with a pair of free throws with 3:30 left in the first half. Sara Garringer capped it with a hoop on an assist from Bruggeman as Blackford went scoreless for more than six minutes.
“We got by this game, but we didn’t play as well as we could have,” said Bruggeman, one of three Jay County players to finish with 11 points.
Blackford managed to pull to within 10 points on a couple of occasions in the second half, but never got any closer.
Bruggeman hit three free throws in the final minute, finishing 7-of-9 from the foul line en route to her 11 points. Fellow senior Lisa Weitzel notched three 3-pointers and a pair of free throws for her 11 points and Sara Garringer went 5-of-8 from the field and also scored 11 points.
Bruggeman also had a team-high of six rebounds, and senior Renae Laux added five.
“Not too many times this year have we had three girls in double figures,” said Comer. “It wasn’t the prettiest game, but its a win and we move on. We just have to build on this.”
Both teams made 14 field goals, but Jay County won the game at the foul line. It made 14 free throws compared to the Bruins’ 4-of-11 effort.
The Patriots also did a better job of taking care of the ball, finishing with just 14 turnovers while Blackford coughed up the ball 22 times.
Kasey Michael paced Blackford with 15 points, and Shanda Godfrey added 10. Michael and Courtney Dickey each had 10 rebounds to lead the Bruins to a 33-25 advantage on the glass.
“Same old thing,” said Blackford coach Bruce Ruble. “It was the third quarter for us. That’s been our Achilles all year. ...
“Our kids played hard. This is the hardest they’ve played all year. We just played a team that was just better than us.”
To win a third straight sectional championship, Jay County will have to be better than it was the first time it played the Elwood Panthers. It lost 52-31 at Elwood Dec. 30 in a game in which it was outscored by 15-4 in the third period.
Comer said the key to victory will be more in the mind than in the body.
“I think the big thing is that we’ve got to believe we can win,” he said. “I think we do. If we come in (tonight) with the right attitude (we can).”[[In-content Ad]]ELWOOD — When the Elwood Panthers put the ball in Kyleigh Jones’ hands, they dominated. When they took it away from her, it was a different story.
The Delta Eagles nearly scored an overtime upset over the host Panthers for the second straight season, but Jones 27-point effort bailed out her team for a 47-44 victory in sectional semifinal action Friday.
Elwood (19-3) moves on to face Jay County (16-5), which knocked off Blackford in the second semifinal game Friday 45-36.
Instead of letting Jones, who is sixth in Class 3A in scoring at 19.2 points per game, run the offense, the Panthers went away from her for much of the first half and led just 18-17 at the break. They handed the ball back to their outstanding point guard in the third quarter, and she scored 14 of their 22 points for a double-digit lead. But, again in the fourth quarter they went away from their star, and Delta rallied back with a 10-0 run and eventuall forced overtime.
Finally in the extra session Elwood went back to Jones and she scored all of their four points to complete the victory.
Morgan Groover also reached double figures for the Panthers with 11 points.
Sarah Miller had 17 points for Delta, which finished 8-15. Chandra Hart had 11 points, Malorie Smith notched eight and Kelly Costello added seven.
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