Knights knock out Jay Co. (02/20/06)

PERU — The Patriots needed to be at their best. For one half and two minutes, they were close.

But five consecutive turnovers and a total of 10 in the third quarter allowed a 19-2 run for the No. 9 Fort Wayne Bishop Luers Knights as the Jay County girls basketball team dropped out of the state tournament in the regional semifinal round Saturday.

NorthWood defeated Tippecanoe Valley 45-38 in the other semifinal game to set up a rematch of last season’s championship game. Bishop Luers then avenged its 2005 loss, taking the title 39-32 to earn a semi-state berth against No. 2 South Bend St. Joseph’s (22-2).

The Patriots were closer at halftime than in either of their previous trips to regional — they were down by nine in 2003 and 12 in 2004 — trailing by just four points. And they pulled to with in 27-26 2:01 into the third after a couple technical foul shots from Chelsea DeBoy and a Cassandra Huelskamp 3-pointer from the right side.

But after giving the ball away just four times in the entire first half, Jay County followed a Bishop Luers timeout with five consecutive turnovers. The Knights (21-4) promptly went on a 10-0 run, and the Patriots never got closer than eight points again.

“They turned up the heat a little bit, and I think we relaxed mentally thinking that, ‘OK, we can do this, that’s the best they’ve got,’” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer. “They showed us they had a little more intensity on the defensive end, that they turned it up a little bit. We just didn’t make good decisions there in the third quarter.”

Markie Runyon broke the Knights’ 10-0 stretch with a hoop off one of Sara Garringer’s game-high eight assists. However, Bishop Luers followed with another nine points in a row before the Patriots scored again on a pair of Garringer free throws with five minutes left in the game.

Scoring just two points in the span of eight minutes was enough to do Jay County in.

Although she said she wished her team had put together a more complete effort, Bishop Luers coach Teri Rosinski credited her team for bouncing back from the technical foul.

“We have the ability to do that,” she said of the 19-2 run. “I was proud of the kids for stepping up when it would have been real easy for the kids to go down by one, two, three. The kids closed the door.”

After falling behind by as many as 18 points, the Patriots got to within eight with 1:31 to go. They had a chance to make it even more interesting as Bishop Luers missed four straight free throws and took some ill-advised quick shots, but Jay County simply could not keep the Knights off the offensive glass.

The Patriots were out-boarded 38-20 for the game as Bishop Luers was repeatedly able to get second and third looks at the basket.

“I have an image of this flash, and her number is 21, a white blur,” said Rosinski of sophomore Amanda Pedro, who led the Knights with a game-high 11 rebounds.

“I thought when the whole team started out slowly, she was on fire. She was hustling and scrapping, flying in there for loose balls. She really kept us alive there in the first half.”

Freshman Mary Hathaway added six boards for Bishop Luers, and 5-foot-3-inch sophomore Markee Martin added five.

Most of Runyon’s team-high seven boards for the Patriots came after they fell behind big, and none of her teammates had more than three.

“The little things, the reason why we won the sectional is because of the little things, and I thought in the first half we did a really good job of doing the little things — taking care of the basketball, boxing out, only giving them one opportunity,” said Comer. “But then in the second half when we got behind we started gambling on some things and going away from the basics of what we’ve been doing.”

Martin and Lavinia Dawson, who hit three first-quarter 3-pointers, paced the Knights with 15 points apiece. Pedro added 14, and Martin also had three assists.

Jay County trailed 18-9 after the opening period, but then turned up the defense. It limited Bishop Luers to just a Martin 3-pointer over the first five minutes of the second and got back in the game by forcing seven turnovers. Theresa Reinhart scored five points in a 10-3 run as the Patriots pulled to within two. They were down four at the half and got to within one before the turnovers took them out of the game.

Garringer shot just 2-of-8 from the field, but hit 6-of-8 free throws and was the lone Jay County player in double figures with 12 points. The Patriots were in the game despite a 38-percent shooting mark in the first half, then watched their numbers dip to 32 percent in the second.

Reinhart and Chelsea DeBoy each scored nine points, and Huelskamp finished with six.

Comer said he was happy with the way his team progressed this year. It picked up its third sectional title in four seasons, and finished 12-11 for a fifth straight winning campaign.

“I’m really pleased with where we’re at,” Comer said. “The kids are at a level now where they feel like they can compete with anybody. That’s where we wanted to be at the end. I really believe this — we let one get away today. That was a game we could have won.”[[In-content Ad]]