Jay tumbles to the Tigers (11/29/06)

BLUFFTON - Jay County's girls basketball team played its first four games before Thanksgiving on their home court. Its first road trip of the holiday season had a not-so-merry ending.

The Patriots had several chances, but failed to score in the final 1:30 of the game Tuesday in a 50-49 loss to the Bluffton Tigers.

"It was a great win," said Bluffton coach Glenn Cunningham, whose team got 19 points and the game-winning hoop with 20 seconds left from junior Marah Kyle. "They're a very good team. We just happened to win at the end ...

"I'm very pleased with all our kids play. I know we made some mistakes, turnovers. One thing I like about this team, they never quit. ... We just keep playing, playing hard."

Jay County (4-1), which was 14th in the Class 3A voting by the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association this week, had the final chance with the ball underneath its own basket with just 6.1 seconds to play. Following a timeout, Dana Horn faked a pass left to Whitney Homan behind the 3-point line before finding Lindsey Wellman cutting toward the basket. Wellman took the pass from Horn, but her shot missed off the glass.

Amber Edmundson grabbed the rebound, but could not get a shot up before being tied up for a jump ball. With the possession arrow in their favor, the Tigers were able to get the ball inbounds and run off the final two seconds for the victory.

"We got exactly what we wanted," said Comer, whose team saw its four-game, season-opening winning streak come to an end. "That's exactly what was designed. She might have got bumped there at the end, but we've got to finish that. We should have never put ourselves in that position.

"In the end they made the play and we didn't."

The Patriots had two other chances to put points on the board in the final 30 seconds, but twice missed the front end of one-and-one tries from the free throw line.

With a 49-48 lead and more than a minute to play, the Patriots ran the clock down as Bluffton had to give four fouls just to get into a bonus situation. They finally committed their seventh foul of the second half with 28.7 seconds left, sending Horn to the foul line. But she missed the foul shot, and Bluffton grabbed the rebound and called timeout.

"We ran just an open offense," said Cunningham. "We look for people to double team us and if they double team, she dishes. ... We felt they were really going to concentrate on Marah and then we were going to give it up."

But no one did stop Kyle.

The Tigers' leading scorer passed the ball inbounds, then got it right back. She proceeded to drive the length of the floor nearly undeterred for what would be the game-winning lay-up.

Kyle fouled Jay County's Kaelee Keller on the opposite end, sending the sophomore guard to the line with 12.4 on the clock. But the front end of her one-and-one chance also missed.

Wellman grabbed the rebound and eventually called timeout with 6.1 seconds remaining, but the Patriots failed to score on the final play as well.

"That hurt," said Comer, whose team hit six of its first seven free-throw attempts before missing its final two. "But again, if we do things right earlier ..."

Comer lamented fouls committed away from the basket, putting the Tigers on the free-throw line at inopportune times and failing to stop the ball. He was especially concerned about the Patriots' effort on the glass, where they were beaten 36-24.

"We've got to get better at rebounding," said Comer. "All it is is a matter of effort, boxing someone out. You don't have to have a lot of talent to box somebody out, and tonight for some reason we just didn't do a very good job of that."

Bluffton junior Haleigh Osborne led her team's rebounding dominance, grabbing a team-high 11 boards. Kyle added nine rebounds while the only Patriot with more than three was Wellman (five).

"That's one thing we emphasize every practice," said Cunningham, who noted that the victory was just the second in Tiger history against Jay County. "We do rebounding drills at least twice a practice. ... The first thing we have to do to be a victor is rebound, rebound, rebound."

Osborne followed Kyle with 12 points, and Alexa Dedrick and Ashlie Holsinger each had three assists.

Senior Whitney Homan paced the Patriots with 16 points. Ten of those came in the opening 3:31 of the game as Homan hit three of her first four 3-point attempts and finished 5-of-8 from long distance.

Wellman added eight points and five rebounds, and Horn had four assists.

The game was the first for the Patriots without the services of Sara Garringer, who suffered a partial tear of the Posterior Cruciate Ligament in her right knee in a win over Mississinewa Nov. 21. The senior guard, who averaged 15 points, four rebounds and three assists in Jay County's opening three games, said she is expected to be out a maximum of four to six weeks and hopes to return to the court around Christmas.

Junior varsity

Jay County allowed just two points in the first, second and fourth quarters as it clobbered the Tigers 46-11 Tuesday.

Makenzie Loy scored 12 points to pace the Patriots, who were up 15-2 after the first quarter and 23-4 at the half. Brittany Mann scored nine points, and Gina Muhlenkamp added seven.

Carlie Crosbie and Sara Waters each scored four points for Bluffton.[[In-content Ad]]