July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Mental toughness is Jay's mantra (02/10/05)
JCHS girls basketball
Mental toughness is Jay's mantra (02/10/05)
By By RAY COONEY-
PORTLAND — The Jay County girls basketball team won nine games in a row at one point this season. It has currently won six of its last seven.
And it posted the best regular season record by a Patriot squad in more than a decade.
But the two-time defending sectional champions still aren’t favored to win a third title.
All signs point to the Patriots making a return trip to the finale. But there they might have to deal with the Elwood Panthers (18-3), a team which hammered them 52-31 in the regular season.
Even earning a rematch is no sure thing. Heavily favored Jay County teams have had close calls in their sectional openers in each of the last two seasons. So getting past a Blackford Bruin team which they beat by 22 during the regular season is no done deal. The pair meet Friday following the first semifinal contest between Elwood and the Delta Eagles.
“Right now we aren’t looking at Elwood,” said senior Leah Gasparovic during a break in practice Wednesday. “We’re still focusing on Blackford because we know they’re going to come at us strong even though we beat them big during the season. We have to be prepared for them before we can even think of Elwood.
“We’re focusing on our first game rather than looking ahead whatsoever.”
The Patriots know from experience that anything can happen. They squeaked out a three-point victory over a one-win Tipton team in their first sectional game two years ago, and needed a Lisa Weitzel buzzer-beater to force overtime last season against a Mississinewa group which they had trounced by 44 during the regular season.
Plus, the Bruins (6-13) trailed Jay County by just three points at halftime during their Dec. 14 battle before fading in the second half. Courtney Dickey (14 points in the first meeting) and Shanda Godfrey (14 points, nine rebounds) of Blackford are also just the kind of post players who have hurt the Patriots this year.
“We need to get a quick start,” said first-year Jay County coach Kirk Comer. “When we take the floor we need to be ready to go, and I think we will be.”
If they do that, Elwood, which topped Tipton 73-46 in first-round action Tuesday, could be waiting.
When the teams met in December the Panthers grabbed a double-digit lead in the first half and never allowed their advantage to slip to fewer than six points during the rest of the game. They ran away with the victory by outscoring Jay County 15-4 in the third period. They also allowed the Patriots just 31 points, their lowest scoring output of the season, and were one of just three teams this year to score more than 50 points against them.
Jay County lost each of the three games in which they allowed 50 or more points — to Fort Recovery, Elwood and New Castle.
Junior point guard Kyleigh Jones leads the Panthers, who shot 18 more free throws than the Patriots in their first meeting. She is sixth in Class 3A in scoring at 19.2 points per game, but only scored 11 against Jay County the first time.
Junior center Morgan Groover may be the bigger challenge as she led Elwood with 17 points against the Patriots just two days after Jay dropped a heart-breaking 50-48 defeat at Fort Recovery.
“I just don’t think we had confidence. No one stepped up,” said senior Jamie Bruggeman. “Our heads were down, and we weren’t mentally there either. It just wasn’t a good combination.
“We know we can do better. We’re hoping that we play to our best ability.”
If the teams meet again, Comer expects a better effort.
“We played our first ... game (against Elwood) about as bad as it can be,” he said. “We’re not going to come back and play that bad again. That’s just not going to happen. I would be stunned if it did.”
Jay County didn’t have to deal with a 16-win Panthers team last year after Delta upset them in overtime in the first round. The Eagles, who advanced to the semifinals with a 63-35 destruction of winless Mississinewa Tuesday, will have a chance to do the same favor Friday night. After all, Delta only lost to Elwood 45-40 when the teams met in November.
Delta would be an underdog if that happened, having lost to Jay County by 14 points just last week, but could also pose a tough challenge. The Eagles’ top player, Laura Costello, sat for much of the first meeting because of foul trouble. Also, Chandra Hart gave an uninspired effort last week, but has some good history. During her sophomore season she had 21 points and eight rebounds in a victory over the Patriots.
No matter who stands in the way to a third crown, the mantra remains the same, as Weitzel said and her coach and senior teammates constantly repeated:
“We have to come out focused mentally on Friday.”[[In-content Ad]]
And it posted the best regular season record by a Patriot squad in more than a decade.
But the two-time defending sectional champions still aren’t favored to win a third title.
All signs point to the Patriots making a return trip to the finale. But there they might have to deal with the Elwood Panthers (18-3), a team which hammered them 52-31 in the regular season.
Even earning a rematch is no sure thing. Heavily favored Jay County teams have had close calls in their sectional openers in each of the last two seasons. So getting past a Blackford Bruin team which they beat by 22 during the regular season is no done deal. The pair meet Friday following the first semifinal contest between Elwood and the Delta Eagles.
“Right now we aren’t looking at Elwood,” said senior Leah Gasparovic during a break in practice Wednesday. “We’re still focusing on Blackford because we know they’re going to come at us strong even though we beat them big during the season. We have to be prepared for them before we can even think of Elwood.
“We’re focusing on our first game rather than looking ahead whatsoever.”
The Patriots know from experience that anything can happen. They squeaked out a three-point victory over a one-win Tipton team in their first sectional game two years ago, and needed a Lisa Weitzel buzzer-beater to force overtime last season against a Mississinewa group which they had trounced by 44 during the regular season.
Plus, the Bruins (6-13) trailed Jay County by just three points at halftime during their Dec. 14 battle before fading in the second half. Courtney Dickey (14 points in the first meeting) and Shanda Godfrey (14 points, nine rebounds) of Blackford are also just the kind of post players who have hurt the Patriots this year.
“We need to get a quick start,” said first-year Jay County coach Kirk Comer. “When we take the floor we need to be ready to go, and I think we will be.”
If they do that, Elwood, which topped Tipton 73-46 in first-round action Tuesday, could be waiting.
When the teams met in December the Panthers grabbed a double-digit lead in the first half and never allowed their advantage to slip to fewer than six points during the rest of the game. They ran away with the victory by outscoring Jay County 15-4 in the third period. They also allowed the Patriots just 31 points, their lowest scoring output of the season, and were one of just three teams this year to score more than 50 points against them.
Jay County lost each of the three games in which they allowed 50 or more points — to Fort Recovery, Elwood and New Castle.
Junior point guard Kyleigh Jones leads the Panthers, who shot 18 more free throws than the Patriots in their first meeting. She is sixth in Class 3A in scoring at 19.2 points per game, but only scored 11 against Jay County the first time.
Junior center Morgan Groover may be the bigger challenge as she led Elwood with 17 points against the Patriots just two days after Jay dropped a heart-breaking 50-48 defeat at Fort Recovery.
“I just don’t think we had confidence. No one stepped up,” said senior Jamie Bruggeman. “Our heads were down, and we weren’t mentally there either. It just wasn’t a good combination.
“We know we can do better. We’re hoping that we play to our best ability.”
If the teams meet again, Comer expects a better effort.
“We played our first ... game (against Elwood) about as bad as it can be,” he said. “We’re not going to come back and play that bad again. That’s just not going to happen. I would be stunned if it did.”
Jay County didn’t have to deal with a 16-win Panthers team last year after Delta upset them in overtime in the first round. The Eagles, who advanced to the semifinals with a 63-35 destruction of winless Mississinewa Tuesday, will have a chance to do the same favor Friday night. After all, Delta only lost to Elwood 45-40 when the teams met in November.
Delta would be an underdog if that happened, having lost to Jay County by 14 points just last week, but could also pose a tough challenge. The Eagles’ top player, Laura Costello, sat for much of the first meeting because of foul trouble. Also, Chandra Hart gave an uninspired effort last week, but has some good history. During her sophomore season she had 21 points and eight rebounds in a victory over the Patriots.
No matter who stands in the way to a third crown, the mantra remains the same, as Weitzel said and her coach and senior teammates constantly repeated:
“We have to come out focused mentally on Friday.”[[In-content Ad]]
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