JC rolls, now 4-0 (11/22/06)

Jay County didn't score for the first four minutes, struggled to find its touch from long range and shot just 35 percent from the field. And it still cruised to a 32-point win.

The Patriot girls basketball team trailed just once - 2-0 - as it won its fourth straight to open the season 54-22 over the visiting Mississinewa Indians Tuesday night.

The 4-0 record marks the best start for Jay County this decade, and matches the team's longest winning streak from all of last season. It was also the fourth straight regular-season rout of the Indians, who have lost to JCHS by an average of 35.5 points since the teams began playing each other in 2003.

Patriot coach Kirk Comer said even with the big win and the still-undefeated record he expected his team to come out with more fire and intensity.

"We had some shots, some good looks at the basket that didn't go in. And it kind of just snowballed from there," Comer said. "We've got to learn that, first of all, everything starts on the defensive end for us and when things aren't falling from the 3-point line we've got to be aggressive and attack the paint and we didn't do that.

"After the first 12 minutes or so our kids did pick it up a little bit, but it wasn't anywhere near like it was this weekend."

Coming off back-to-back victories over Bellmont and Winchester Friday and Saturday, Jay County struggled to get anything going early against the Indians. Neither team scored in the opening four minutes with the Patriots going 0-for-7 from the field - 0-for-6 from 3-point range - with one turnover during the span.

Mississinewa (0-4) finally broke the scoreless drought when Fallon Price scored on an assist from Heather Swarts at the 3:57 mark of the opening period.

A hoop by sophomore Kaelee Keller, who took the floor on a full-team substitution which also brought in juniors Dana Horn, Cassandra Huelskamp, Shelby Rines and Abby Loy, tied the score seconds later. And Jay County took the lead for good at the 2:30 mark when Horn finally broke up the 3-point struggles on an assist from Huelskamp.

"I know they like to shoot a lot of threes and crash the boards, so basically I just told my kids, 'Get your hands to anybody around that 3-point line and make sure the person in the middle has got a body on them,'" said Mississinewa coach Nikki Percy after the Patriots finished just 3-of-20 (15 percent) from long range. "We sag quite a bit on help side and our kids usually do a pretty good job ... and I thought that was true tonight. We were just getting to their 3-point shooters and not letting them get started.

"I don't think defense is our problem right now. Offensively we're struggling so bad it's hard to play that strong of defense every possession when you're not getting rewarded on the other end. ... We've just got to figure out how to score the ball."

The Patriots took control when they found their offense in the second half as Mississinewa remained unable to generate looks at the basket. They scored the first six points of the period, added another 6-0 run and later scored nine in a row on a 3-pointer from Whitney Homan and back-to-back 3-point plays by Keller. The 21-point second quarter took Jay County from a 7-4 lead after the first period to an 18-point advantage at the intermission.

Meanwhile, the Indians shot a better percentage than the home team (39-35) for the game, but could not overcome turnovers and fouls. They gave the ball away 17 times in the first half when starting post players Sarah Jones and Fallon Price each had two fouls and starting guard Samantha Justus had three.

"That's been the story of the last two years, turnovers and fouls," said Percy, whose team committed 27 turnovers for the game and attempted half as many field goals as the Patriots. "And also getting our kids to run an offense. If we can try to solve some of those problems and slow down a little bit ... we'll be OK."

When the Patriots went away from the 3-point shot and got the ball to Lindsay Wellman inside, she delivered by hitting 5-of-9 from the field and 3-of-3 from the line for a game-high 13 points. Huelskamp led the Patriots with five rebounds, and Horn dished out a game-high four assists.

Keller turned in her best game as she hit 3-of-5 from the field and nailed all of her five free-throw attempts for 12 points.

"She had a nice game - another game where we had someone different step up," Comer said. "That's kind of the trademark of us right now. On a given night, different girls are going to step up."

But Keller's extra minutes against the Indians may have come at a steep price. She and several other Patriots saw more court time after Sara Garringer was injured late in the opening quarter.

The senior, who was averaging 15 points, four rebounds and three assists per game, was bumped as she drove to attempt lay-up and landed awkwardly. She writhed in pain immediately after the fall, and was on the floor for several minutes before being helped to the locker room. She finally returned to the bench with about four minutes left in the game and her right knee wrapped. The extent of her injury was unknown, but Comer said he expected Garringer to undergo an MRI today to determine whether there was any ligament damage.

"I'm just hoping for the best," the coach said.

Justus was the top Mississinewa scorer with five points, and Swarts, Price and Nicole Kilgore each added four. Jones had seven rebounds, Price grabbed five boards and Swarts notched two assists.

Junior varsity

Jay County shut out the Indians in the opening period and had a 25-point lead at the half on the way to a 58-14 victory over the Indians.

Shelby Gierhart scored 11 points to lead the Patriots, who added another 20 points in the third quarter. Gina Muhlenkamp finished with 10 points, and Amber Edmundson added eight.

Lisa Murgaw topped Mississinewa with four points, and Danelle Richey had three.[[In-content Ad]]