Patriots fall to Frankton

The Patriots fought back and were within striking distance in the final minute. But a 13-point halftime deficit proved too much to overcome.
The Jay County High School girls basketball team closed to within five points twice in the fourth quarter Thursday, but dropped its fourth straight game 55-49 to the visiting Frankton Eagles.
“The girls fought hard,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg. “When you’re down … by 18 at one point, it’s hard to dig out against good teams like that.”
Catherine Dunn scored off of an assist by Katie Aker to close the gap to 52-47 with 51 seconds left, but the Patriots could not pull any closer. Kaylee Irwin sealed the win for Frankton (5-2), which has won four straight, with a pair of free throws with 14.9 seconds left.
Kelsey Key shot 12-of-18 from the field and 7-of-9 at the line to carry the Eagles with 34 points. Her sister, Katie, hit three 3-pointers and added 13 points.
Bre McIntire led the Patriots (2-6) in scoring for the second straight game with 17 points. Catherine Dunn joined her in double figures with 11 points, and Katie Aker scored nine.
Cheyenne Loy and Ava Kunkler tallied nine and eight points respectively to lead the JCHS junior varsity team to a 27-19 win.

Freshmen top Falcons
WINCHESTER — Jay County’s freshman boys basketball team picked up a 31-20 victory Thursday over the Winchester Golden Falcons.
Kyler Carvel scored nine points to lead the Patriots, who never trailed. Adam Dirksen followed with eight points, and Joey Springer scored six.
Mason Boyatt finished with 15 points to lead Winchester.

EJMS girls roll
BLUFFTON — The East Jay Middle School girls basketball teams cruised to a pair of victories Thursday. The eighth graders defeated the Bluffton Tigers 20-6 while the seventh grade squad posted a 32-15 victory.
Taylor Homan tallied seven points to lead the EJMS eighth grade team, which held Bluffton scoreless in the second quarter. Emily Muhlenkamp added four points.
Betsy Muhlenkamp racked up half of the points for the seventh grade team as it improved to 3-2. Briana Muhlenkamp followed with eight points.

West Jay girls fall
UNION CITY — West Jay’s eighth grade girls basketball team lost 38-10 Thursday to host West Side, and the seventh graders fell 37-8.
Courtney Cox did most of the scoring for the WJMS eighth grade squad (2-2) as she totaled eight points. Lilly Rogers added two points.
Hannah Ault finished with six points for the Eagle seventh graders. Kimber Harris had two points.[[In-content Ad]]