Patriots win ugly against Norwell (11/29/03)

There was a solid start followed by a decent finish.

So what if things got a little ugly in between?

Jay County High School’s girls basketball team didn’t mind a bit, as they played hard — if not always well — Friday night in a 35-24 win over Norwell.

The win improved the Patriots’ record to 4-2 and capped off an evening of three wins in as many games for Jay County, which also won at the freshman and junior varsity level in front of a good home holiday crowd. The Patriots will be back on their home court Tuesday against Bluffton.

Jay County, which was coming off a blowout win Tuesday at Mississinewa, had to work a little harder for this one.

After jumping out to an 8-1 lead in the first quarter, Jay County had trouble shaking loose from the Knights in a game in which both teams struggled to find a rhythm offensively.

Jay County, up 14-8 at halftime, saw that lead sliced to 14-13 in the opening minutes of the third period. But three scores in as many possessions on pull-up jumpers by Jamie Bruggeman and Lindsay Friddle bumped the lead back up to seven, and the Patriots were in control the rest of the way.

Bruggeman led the low-scoring offensive attack for JCHS with 11 points, while Felisha Parr added nine — including seven in the fourth quarter.

JCHS coach Lea Selvey said after the game he was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I felt like they played with intensity for 32 minutes,” Selvey said, giving credit to the bench play of Renae Laux, Markie Runyon and Leah Gasparovic.

“We played well as a team and I thought that they did an outstanding job of stopping (Norwell’s leading scorer) Mackenzie Warwick.”

Jay County, which played a half-court zone trap defense for most of the game, forced more than 20 turnovers by the Knights. Friddle led Jay County with four steals, while Bruggeman and Laux each had three.

Bruggeman and Runyon each had four rebounds for the Patriots.

Jay County, which had generated very little out of its half-court offensive sets through the first two-plus quarters, got a big boost from a little dribble penetration from guards Bruggeman and Friddle as Norwell trimmed the lead in the third quarter.

The Patriots’ offense became more aggressive after that, as Jay County scored eight points in the final four minutes or so of the third quarter and 13 points in the fourth to finish strong.

Jay County’s junior varsity team improved to 6-0 with a 42-22 victory over Norwell.

Sara Garringer paced Jay County with 11 points, while Whitney Homan scored nine and Amber Champ added six.

Jay County raced out to a 14-1 lead after one quarter, and took a 24-6 lead into the half.[[In-content Ad]]