Jay girls push record to 6-1 (12/06/06)

MUNCIE - Kirk Comer's goals for his team Tuesday night included two main areas - rebounds and turnovers. The Patriots earned enough of an advantage in each to keep the Muncie Central Bearcats at bay.

Jay County's girls basketball team took an early lead and generated nine more field goal attempts and nine more free throws than the Bearcats to take a 52-38 victory.

"I thought we played better as a team tonight, flowed better," said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, who got 15 points from freshman center Lindsey Wellman and saw the re-emergence of junior Cassandra Huelskamp. "All you have to do is work hard and do the little things to rebound and I thought we were a lot better at that tonight.

"We needed to do this, and I was hoping we could do this against Bluffton and I thought it would propel us," he added of getting a victory over a winning team following the loss of senior Sara Garringer to injury. "I thought we were still flat in the Union City game, but tonight we came out and I thought we were the aggressor. We played with a purpose tonight."

The Patriots (6-1) built their advantage in the opening half, forcing 14 turnovers and grabbing 18 rebounds to Central's 10. On the strength of those extra opportunities Wellman led them to an eight-point, first-quarter lead.

Wellman scored almost half of her points in the opening quarter, and wreaked havoc on the Bearcats' offense.

"Lindsey Wellman did an excellent job on the defensive end tonight," said Comer as the freshman also had a team-high six rebounds, two assists and one block. "I thought she got her hands on an awful lot of balls tonight, and that's one of the things we've emphasized this year more than we have in the past - how many times we deflect the ball."

After falling to the early deficit, Central coach Kaye Harrell said it was the Patriots' 3-point ability which did her team in. Not the number of 3-pointers - Jay County had five to the Bearcats' four - but the timing.

"Every time we'd kind of get a little bit of a move on them, they'd hit a 3-pointer," said Harrell. "Their experience at shooting and their efficiency with shooting the 3-point shot just took every momentum."

Erynn Young of Central (4-3) scored the opening hoop of the second quarter only to have Huelskamp hit her second 3-pointer of the game to push the Patriot lead back out to nine. The Bearcats' Ashley Fouch drained a 3-pointer of her own to cut the deficit back to six, but Huelskamp responded with another trifecta just a minute later.

When the Bearcats put together their only back-to-back baskets of the third quarter, Whitney Homan followed with her only 3-pointer of the game.

And when Central got to within 43-34 in the fourth quarter, Abby Loy's 3-pointer started a 7-0 Jay County run to put the game away.

Huelskamp's three triples and 4-of-7 over shooting effort gave her a season-high 11 points. She also had four boards and two assists.

"We saw the Cassandra of old, at times," said Comer of the junior who set the school record for 3-pointers in a game with seven against Anderson Highland last year. "I still see her at times a little slow on the defensive end, but she's getting there. She's really getting there a lot quicker than we thought. I'm very excited about that."

Kaelee Keller added eight points and two assists, and Abby Loy had seven points.

Dana Horn dished out a game-high four assists, and Shelby Rines grabbed four rebounds.

The Patriots played without Garringer, their leading scorer, for the third straight game after she suffered a partially torn ligament in her right knee Nov. 21. She was expected to be out for four-to-six weeks.

Fellow senior Theresa Reinhart was also limited because of a back problem, and Comer said Homan is still dealing with nagging injuries as well.

Fouch, a freshman, matched Wellman with 15 points for Central. But no other Bearcat had more than six points.

"Even though we're struggling a little bit in games like this ... I wouldn't want to play us by the end of the year," said Harrell. "We're dealing with mostly sophomores and a freshman point guard, and at some point this team is going to really turn the corner. They're going to be good."

Junior varsity

Jay County stayed perfect, using stellar defense in the second and fourth quarters of a 47-25 victory over the Bearcats.

The Patriots (7-0) allowed just three points in the second quarter as they pushed their lead to 21-11 at the half. They were ahead by 13 heading into the final six minutes, and limited Muncie Central to two points in the fourth period.

Sharon Dirksen and Amber Edmundson shared scoring honors for the Patriots with 11 points apiece. Pazia Speed added eight points.

Rachel Beaver and Courtney Emmons each scored eight points to lead the Bearcats.[[In-content Ad]]