JC hopes to torment foes with zone

The 2008-09 Jay County High School girls basketball season had a storybook feel. That is, until the ending.

The finish - a last-second loss to Fort Wayne South Side in the first sectional tournament game that brought an abrupt end to the year after an undefeated regular season - was more like a nightmare.

As the Patriots prepare for the 2009-10 season, which opens Tuesday when they host that same Fort Wayne South Side squad, they hope to be the ones who "Create the Nightmare."

That phrase is the team's slogan under first-year coach Luke Cummings, who took over the program when Kirk Comer resigned the post in order to take the same position at his alma mater (Winchester). It refers to his zone defense, which he hopes will create problems for every opposing team.

"Our zone is kind of unique the way we play it," said Cummings, who previously coach boys teams at East Noble and Adams Central. "We want to try and make it the other team's worst game of the year.

"We want to try and make it the game they hate preparing for."

Cummings described the defense as a 2-1-2 look that focuses on forcing 3-pointers and keeping the ball out of the high and low posts. He picked it up while playing for Basil Mawbey, who ranks third among active boys coaches with 659 career wins, while playing at Kokomo.

Returning to lead the JCHS squad is Pazia Speed, who will be the team's lone senior coming off of last year's 18-1 season. She is the returning leader in points (12.3 per game), rebounds (5.4) and assists (2.8), and she shot 52 percent from the field and 79 percent from the foul line a year ago.

She was also named to the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association 2009 Girls All-State Underclass Team after last season.

"I think it starts with how hard she works and just kind of leading by example," said Cummings. "She's not a real vocal person ... She just works so hard and she wants to win. I think the others feed off that.

"She's so good with the ball in her hands. ... I know she's not a true point guard or a natural point guard, but ... we want to have the ball in their hands as much as we can."

The Patriots have two other full-time varsity players back from last season in juniors Cara Garringer and Erin Hunt.

The duo was part of Jay County's potent long distance attack last season, finishing with 15 and 17 3-pointers respectively. Garringer hit a team-best 39-percent of her triples as a sophomore and was fourth on the team at 5.6 points per game.

Another junior, Danielle Link, will join those three in the starting lineup. The final starting spot could go to either Katie Butcher or Mariah Hornaday, depending on what look Cummings wants to give the opposition.

"We could really go with a four-guard line-up (with Butcher)," said Cummings. "Or we could go with three guards and then Hornaday and Link."

Link saw action in 14 of the Patriots' 19 games last season, shooting 53 percent from the field, and Butcher played in 12 games. The rest of the rotation will include Maria Murphy (11 games), Kassi Hemmelgarn and Mollie May.

Cummings said his team's relative inexperience could hurt JCHS early on the offensive end. But at the same time, both Speed and Garringer have the ability to go one-on-one and get a hoop if the team goes into a scoring slump.

"It's a big difference," said Cummings. "This is my sixth year as a head coach, and I don't know if I've ever had (a player) like that. ... Not only can they get you a basket, but they can get the ball and protect it and get to the free throw line."

The team will also have size inside with Link, who stands 6-foot-1, and the 5-foot-11 Hornaday. Cummings also said he's been impressed with Link's passing ability.

"They're capable of scoring inside," he added. "The thing that has been nice is that the other girls have been throwing it to them ... and they're finishing in there. It takes some pressure off of the guards."

Cummings said he expects his team will have some growing pains early on as the players continue to learn his new system.

"We won't be playing our best basketball here in the next month," he said, "but we will be when February gets here, and that's what we want to have."

That is tournament time, when the Patriots want to find the success that has eluded them the last two years despite consecutive 18-win seasons. And while JCHS has gone three years without a sectional title, Cummings isn't shy about discussing every team's ultimate goal - a state title.

"We're playing for the tournament," he said. "We're preparing now for the tournament. ... Every year going into the season, we're preparing to get to the state finals. ... We talk about it a lot. If you're afraid to talk about it, you don't truly believe it can happen."[[In-content Ad]]