July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Patriots fall to 1-2 (11/19/05)
JCHS girls basketball
Patriots fall to 1-2 (11/19/05)
By By RAY COONEY-
DECATUR — The long run got the Patriots in trouble. The short one finished the job.
Jay County’s girls basketball team fell behind in a big way thanks to an 18-2 Bellmont Squaws run spanning the first and second quarters. Then it gave up six points in less than 20 seconds midway through the fourth in a 73-60 defeat Friday night in a loss which overshadowed an outstanding double-double effort from senior Markie Runyon.
“The turning point was six points in about 12 seconds,” said Bellmont coach Lou Koning. “That was the turning point in the game. We’ve got to play that way. We’re going to make mistakes and things aren’t going to go our way, but teams have got to be ready because we’re going to (press).”
The visiting Patriots (1-2) had put together a 7-2 run, cutting their deficit to seven points on a pair of Theresa Reinhart free throws with 3:54 remaining. However, by the 3:23 mark that hard work had been erased.
Bellmont broke the Jay County pressure defense, getting a put-back basket from freshman Janelle Rhoades.
The Squaws then forced back-to-back turnovers in the back-court which led to scores from senior Liz Thatcher and sophomore Kylee Ehrsam and ballooned the lead back to 13 points.
Jay County never got within single digits again.
“Again we had way too many turnovers ...” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team gave the ball away 26 times. “Tonight we played against a very aggressive defense. That’s still too many turnovers.”
The turnovers weren’t good, but Jay County forced its share as Bellmont committed 29 such errors. However, the Patriots were hurt less by their turnovers — Bellmont finished with 29 — than by their inability to put the ball in the basket. They shot just 34 percent from the field, missing a variety of open attempts from point-blank range.
Runyon was the only Jay County player to show much offensive consistency as she finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. She finished 9-of-14 from the field (64 percent) while the rest of the squad combined to go 13-of-51 (25 percent).
The scoring struggles were most evident when Runyon went to the bench after picking up a pair of fouls in the first quarter. Jay County had a 12-9 lead, but managed just one bucket over the next 5:41.
Bellmont went on an 18-0 run during that span — 9-0 to close the first quarter and 9-2 to open the second — and never lost the lead again.
Despite trailing by as many as 13 points in the opening half Jay County had plenty of opportunities to get back into the game. It was within seven at halftime and pulled within four after a Cassandra Huelskamp 3-pointer late in the third quarter. However, the Squaws responded with an 8-0 run to surge back ahead.
Jay County still had a chance to be within two possessions with less than two minutes to play, but missed six consecutive free throws after hitting its first nine of the contest.
“We missed a lot of good opportunities,” said Comer. “Again, I blame a lot of that on a lack of experience. For some of the girls this is their third game. ... I think we showed some nerves again.”
Koning got a lot of nice efforts from his Squaws, who were playing their first game of the year.
Thatcher made each of her first six field goal attempts — her first miss came 19 seconds into the final period — and shared the game-high of 21 points with Runyon. Emily Conrad scored 15 points, Cindi Miller scored 14 and Nicki Geyer went 3-of-4 from long distance and finished with 12 points.
Miller played well inside as she battled Runyon. She finished with a team-high nine rebounds to go along with six blocked shots.
Eight different Squaw players had at least one assist.
“For the first time in my coaching career at Bellmont I can actually look at the girls tonight and tell them everyone contributed,” said Koning, who is in his seventh season with the Squaws. “We’ve never had that before. We’ve got to have that if we’re going to be successful.”
Sara Garringer joined Runyon in double figures for the Patriots as she finished with 14 points, 11 of which came before halftime. She was also second to Runyon in rebounds with seven, and had a team-best six assists.
Hueslkamp and Reinhart each had seven points.
Dana Horn scored five points and dished out four assists.
Junior varsity
The Patriots came alive in the final period, staying unbeaten at 3-0 with a 26-21 victory over Bellmont.
Jay County trailed 19-14 heading into the final quarter, but stifled the Squaws and took a 22-21 lead on a bucket by Amber Edmundson with 2:01 remaining.
Kaelee Keller buried 3-of-4 free throws in the final 35 seconds to seal the win.
Keller finished with a game-high 10 points. Edmundson scored seven points, and Natasha Stout added six.
Kaylee Faurote and Abby Doan each had six points for Bellmont.
Freshmen
Jay County struggled mightily, scoring no more than five points in any quarter in a 37-10 loss to the Squaws.
Bellmont had a 12-3 lead in the first period, then outscored the Patriots 12-0 in the second to take firm control.
Katie Baker powered the Squaws with 15 points. Chelsea Dick also reached double figures with 12.
Chelsea Grady led Jay County with six points. Megan Logue and Esther Stephen each scored two points.[[In-content Ad]]
Jay County’s girls basketball team fell behind in a big way thanks to an 18-2 Bellmont Squaws run spanning the first and second quarters. Then it gave up six points in less than 20 seconds midway through the fourth in a 73-60 defeat Friday night in a loss which overshadowed an outstanding double-double effort from senior Markie Runyon.
“The turning point was six points in about 12 seconds,” said Bellmont coach Lou Koning. “That was the turning point in the game. We’ve got to play that way. We’re going to make mistakes and things aren’t going to go our way, but teams have got to be ready because we’re going to (press).”
The visiting Patriots (1-2) had put together a 7-2 run, cutting their deficit to seven points on a pair of Theresa Reinhart free throws with 3:54 remaining. However, by the 3:23 mark that hard work had been erased.
Bellmont broke the Jay County pressure defense, getting a put-back basket from freshman Janelle Rhoades.
The Squaws then forced back-to-back turnovers in the back-court which led to scores from senior Liz Thatcher and sophomore Kylee Ehrsam and ballooned the lead back to 13 points.
Jay County never got within single digits again.
“Again we had way too many turnovers ...” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team gave the ball away 26 times. “Tonight we played against a very aggressive defense. That’s still too many turnovers.”
The turnovers weren’t good, but Jay County forced its share as Bellmont committed 29 such errors. However, the Patriots were hurt less by their turnovers — Bellmont finished with 29 — than by their inability to put the ball in the basket. They shot just 34 percent from the field, missing a variety of open attempts from point-blank range.
Runyon was the only Jay County player to show much offensive consistency as she finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. She finished 9-of-14 from the field (64 percent) while the rest of the squad combined to go 13-of-51 (25 percent).
The scoring struggles were most evident when Runyon went to the bench after picking up a pair of fouls in the first quarter. Jay County had a 12-9 lead, but managed just one bucket over the next 5:41.
Bellmont went on an 18-0 run during that span — 9-0 to close the first quarter and 9-2 to open the second — and never lost the lead again.
Despite trailing by as many as 13 points in the opening half Jay County had plenty of opportunities to get back into the game. It was within seven at halftime and pulled within four after a Cassandra Huelskamp 3-pointer late in the third quarter. However, the Squaws responded with an 8-0 run to surge back ahead.
Jay County still had a chance to be within two possessions with less than two minutes to play, but missed six consecutive free throws after hitting its first nine of the contest.
“We missed a lot of good opportunities,” said Comer. “Again, I blame a lot of that on a lack of experience. For some of the girls this is their third game. ... I think we showed some nerves again.”
Koning got a lot of nice efforts from his Squaws, who were playing their first game of the year.
Thatcher made each of her first six field goal attempts — her first miss came 19 seconds into the final period — and shared the game-high of 21 points with Runyon. Emily Conrad scored 15 points, Cindi Miller scored 14 and Nicki Geyer went 3-of-4 from long distance and finished with 12 points.
Miller played well inside as she battled Runyon. She finished with a team-high nine rebounds to go along with six blocked shots.
Eight different Squaw players had at least one assist.
“For the first time in my coaching career at Bellmont I can actually look at the girls tonight and tell them everyone contributed,” said Koning, who is in his seventh season with the Squaws. “We’ve never had that before. We’ve got to have that if we’re going to be successful.”
Sara Garringer joined Runyon in double figures for the Patriots as she finished with 14 points, 11 of which came before halftime. She was also second to Runyon in rebounds with seven, and had a team-best six assists.
Hueslkamp and Reinhart each had seven points.
Dana Horn scored five points and dished out four assists.
Junior varsity
The Patriots came alive in the final period, staying unbeaten at 3-0 with a 26-21 victory over Bellmont.
Jay County trailed 19-14 heading into the final quarter, but stifled the Squaws and took a 22-21 lead on a bucket by Amber Edmundson with 2:01 remaining.
Kaelee Keller buried 3-of-4 free throws in the final 35 seconds to seal the win.
Keller finished with a game-high 10 points. Edmundson scored seven points, and Natasha Stout added six.
Kaylee Faurote and Abby Doan each had six points for Bellmont.
Freshmen
Jay County struggled mightily, scoring no more than five points in any quarter in a 37-10 loss to the Squaws.
Bellmont had a 12-3 lead in the first period, then outscored the Patriots 12-0 in the second to take firm control.
Katie Baker powered the Squaws with 15 points. Chelsea Dick also reached double figures with 12.
Chelsea Grady led Jay County with six points. Megan Logue and Esther Stephen each scored two points.[[In-content Ad]]
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