July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
By By RAY COONEY-
Tuesday's game showed dramatic shifts, with the team turning the ball over watching the advantage fly to the opponent's favor. Unfortunately for the host Patriots, they were the ones giving the ball away in overtime.
Jay County's girls basketball team fought back from an 11-point deficit, missed a chance to win at the end of regulation then struggled offensively in the extra session in a 50-43 loss to the Huntington North Vikings.
It was another close loss against a good team for the Patriots (9-4), who fell 58-54 to Class 3A No. 3 New Castle (14-2) just five days earlier.
"They're just a very scrappy team that plays very, very well," said Huntington North coach Don Burton after watching Amber Clark (21 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks) carry his team to 11-3. "They didn't shoot the three as well tonight as they have before, but we didn't do some things either. It was just really a great game between two pretty good teams that played hard."
On a night that saw Jay County struggle from the field throughout, the team gave up a 13-0 run to open the second half. But it still rallied to tie the game at 40 when senior Nicole Pfeifer hit a pair of free throws with 44.5 seconds left.
The Patriots had a chance to win the game when Pfeifer got back to the line with 4.9 seconds to go, but her first shot bounced around the rim before falling off and her second was off the mark to the right.
A Sara Garringer 3-pointer in overtime gave Jay County its first lead since the intermission, but the home team never scored again. After running more than a minute off the clock, a shot by Kaelee Keller was no good and Pazia Speed's put-back try was rejected by the Vikings' Amber Clark.
Huntington North went on to make eight free throws in the final 1:20 while the Patriots turned the ball over on each of their next two possessions to let the game slip away.
"We only had (16) turnovers, but we had some key turnovers," said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team was averaging 19. "In overtime there when we needed some baskets we didn't take very good care of the basketball."
The game had drastic swings, with Huntington North putting together runs of 10-0 in the first quarter - Jay County turned the ball over five times in six possessions during the stretch - and 13-0 to start the third. The Patriots responded with an 8-0 run to close the opening half - the Vikings had nine second-period turnovers - and take a 20-18 lead, then a 12-5 burst to end regulation.
Jay County rallied from its 11-point, third-quarter deficit despite shooting just 21 percent for the game. It hit 9-of-12 fourth-quarter free throws before Pfeifer's potential game-winning pair went awry.
The Vikings, on the other hand, were just 8-of-15 from the line before the perfect effort in overtime. Mallory Burton hit four of those, and Mariah Town and Katie Hackney each contributed two.
"We had two guards step up and hit some shots," said Don Burton of Town (12 points) and Mariah Burton (eight). "That was really a big key to the game. Mariah hitting those shots to open the second half ... we hit some foul shots at the end. Those are some things that those two guards haven't been doing and they did a nice job."
The first half played out as a battle between Clark (14 points, nine rebounds) and the Patriot freshman Lindsey Wellman (12 points, 8-of-9 free throws, four rebounds).
But Wellman stayed in the game after picking up her second personal foul with 1:15 to play before halftime. She was quickly tagged with her third 37 seconds later, and got a fourth less than two minutes into the third quarter. She did not score after the break as she spent most of the second half stuck on the bench, while Clark pushed to her game-high scoring, rebounding and block totals.
"That definitely hurt us," said Comer. "We thought we had a huge quickness advantage with her in there going up against the Clark girl and I thought she did an outstanding job of working that advantage. When she went out, we kind of lost that inside punch."
Kaelee Keller matched Wellman with 12 points, and Garringer, in just her second game back after missing seven with a knee injury, finished with eight. Pazia Speed had seven rebounds, and Abby Loy notched three assists.
Junior varsity
Jay County gave up more points in the fourth quarter than it had in the previous three as it couldn't hold on to its lead in a 33-31 loss to the Vikings.
The Patriots led 20-16 after three quarters, but allowed 17 fourth-quarter points. The game was tied late, but Huntington North's Hayley Bradford hit a pair of free throws with 8.3 seconds remaining to give her team the victory.
Amber Edmundson led all scorers with 12 points for Jay County. Gina Muhlenkamp finished with seven points.
Whitney Neuenschwander finished with eight points for the Vikings. Taylor Foley added five.[[In-content Ad]]
Jay County's girls basketball team fought back from an 11-point deficit, missed a chance to win at the end of regulation then struggled offensively in the extra session in a 50-43 loss to the Huntington North Vikings.
It was another close loss against a good team for the Patriots (9-4), who fell 58-54 to Class 3A No. 3 New Castle (14-2) just five days earlier.
"They're just a very scrappy team that plays very, very well," said Huntington North coach Don Burton after watching Amber Clark (21 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks) carry his team to 11-3. "They didn't shoot the three as well tonight as they have before, but we didn't do some things either. It was just really a great game between two pretty good teams that played hard."
On a night that saw Jay County struggle from the field throughout, the team gave up a 13-0 run to open the second half. But it still rallied to tie the game at 40 when senior Nicole Pfeifer hit a pair of free throws with 44.5 seconds left.
The Patriots had a chance to win the game when Pfeifer got back to the line with 4.9 seconds to go, but her first shot bounced around the rim before falling off and her second was off the mark to the right.
A Sara Garringer 3-pointer in overtime gave Jay County its first lead since the intermission, but the home team never scored again. After running more than a minute off the clock, a shot by Kaelee Keller was no good and Pazia Speed's put-back try was rejected by the Vikings' Amber Clark.
Huntington North went on to make eight free throws in the final 1:20 while the Patriots turned the ball over on each of their next two possessions to let the game slip away.
"We only had (16) turnovers, but we had some key turnovers," said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team was averaging 19. "In overtime there when we needed some baskets we didn't take very good care of the basketball."
The game had drastic swings, with Huntington North putting together runs of 10-0 in the first quarter - Jay County turned the ball over five times in six possessions during the stretch - and 13-0 to start the third. The Patriots responded with an 8-0 run to close the opening half - the Vikings had nine second-period turnovers - and take a 20-18 lead, then a 12-5 burst to end regulation.
Jay County rallied from its 11-point, third-quarter deficit despite shooting just 21 percent for the game. It hit 9-of-12 fourth-quarter free throws before Pfeifer's potential game-winning pair went awry.
The Vikings, on the other hand, were just 8-of-15 from the line before the perfect effort in overtime. Mallory Burton hit four of those, and Mariah Town and Katie Hackney each contributed two.
"We had two guards step up and hit some shots," said Don Burton of Town (12 points) and Mariah Burton (eight). "That was really a big key to the game. Mariah hitting those shots to open the second half ... we hit some foul shots at the end. Those are some things that those two guards haven't been doing and they did a nice job."
The first half played out as a battle between Clark (14 points, nine rebounds) and the Patriot freshman Lindsey Wellman (12 points, 8-of-9 free throws, four rebounds).
But Wellman stayed in the game after picking up her second personal foul with 1:15 to play before halftime. She was quickly tagged with her third 37 seconds later, and got a fourth less than two minutes into the third quarter. She did not score after the break as she spent most of the second half stuck on the bench, while Clark pushed to her game-high scoring, rebounding and block totals.
"That definitely hurt us," said Comer. "We thought we had a huge quickness advantage with her in there going up against the Clark girl and I thought she did an outstanding job of working that advantage. When she went out, we kind of lost that inside punch."
Kaelee Keller matched Wellman with 12 points, and Garringer, in just her second game back after missing seven with a knee injury, finished with eight. Pazia Speed had seven rebounds, and Abby Loy notched three assists.
Junior varsity
Jay County gave up more points in the fourth quarter than it had in the previous three as it couldn't hold on to its lead in a 33-31 loss to the Vikings.
The Patriots led 20-16 after three quarters, but allowed 17 fourth-quarter points. The game was tied late, but Huntington North's Hayley Bradford hit a pair of free throws with 8.3 seconds remaining to give her team the victory.
Amber Edmundson led all scorers with 12 points for Jay County. Gina Muhlenkamp finished with seven points.
Whitney Neuenschwander finished with eight points for the Vikings. Taylor Foley added five.[[In-content Ad]]
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