July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Suddenly sure (02/16/06)
JCHS girls basketball
Suddenly sure (02/16/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
It’s hard to believe the shots are going to go in when they haven’t dropped before.
It’s hard to believe you’re going to win the close game when you’ve always fallen short.
It’s hard to believe you can beat a good team when your record says you’re average.
But it only takes one shot, one moment, one game to turn doubt into belief — to make a once shaking hand still.
For the Jay County girls basketball team, that game came Saturday.
“Throughout the whole season we knew that we had a lot of talent on this team,” said junior guard Whitney Homan at practice Wednesday. “But after last weekend, winning the sectional and everything, having that big win last Saturday, it totally just did it.”
Tied at halftime, the Patriots never allowed the Elwood Panthers (19-4) to get the lead in the second half of Saturday’s sectional championship game. Instead they took control, handing an 11-point defeat to one of the many good teams which had victimized them in a 10-10 regular season.
Coach Kirk Comer agrees it was a turning point.
“I’ve said all along to the coaches that I’ve been in this situation before,” he noted. “And when you do something like this — put this schedule together — and you play close and you play close and you play close, you can only keep building them up so long when you’re playing close. But once you win one of them then that sends you over. And it took us to the final game of the sectional to win one of those big games. And I really do think that it has put our program over.
“When we go and play these teams, not only this weekend, but in the future, we believe that we can win.
“The girls are practicing right now with so much confidence. I’m excited about this Saturday. I think we’re going to play very well.”
As the four regional teams from 2004 — the No. 9 Fort Wayne Bishop Luers Knights (20-4), NorthWood Panthers (19-4), Tippecanoe Valley Vikings (11-11) and Jay County — reunite, the Patriots will have to be at their best.
While three of those sport particularly youthful rosters — defending champion NorthWood is the most experienced with four seniors and five juniors — all have seen their share of regional action recently.
This will mark the third straight trip to the regional for both NorthWood and 2004 champion Bishop Luers. It will be the third regional visit in the last four seasons for both Jay County and Tippecanoe Valley, neither of which have ever won a regional title, after both fell short of sectional crowns last season.
The Patriots’ last trip to regional action resulted in a 57-46 loss to Tippecanoe Valley. They fell 62-47 to South Bend St. Joseph’s a year earlier, and have played in a regional championship game just twice in the 30-year history of JCHS.
“It’s an exciting atmosphere and you should go and you should have fun,” said Jay County junior guard Sara Garringer, one of just two players along with senior Markie Runyon who can claim any regional experience. “You might be a little nervous to begin with, but if you play your game of basketball it doesn’t really matter.”
Although the same four teams are back from 2004, Jay County has a different draw this year. It will open against Bishop Luers — the game is scheduled for noon, but will start 20 minutes following the conclusion of the first game between NorthWood and Tippecanoe Valley at 10 a.m.
Knights coach Teri Rosinski said in looking at tape Garringer and Cassandra Huelskamp impressed her. With 37 and 33 3-pointers respectively they are two of the top three long-distance shooters in the regional.
“They have some tremendous shooters, long-ball shooters,” said Rosinski in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “They also do a real nice job of mixing up their defenses.”
Bishop Luers has been powered this year by sophomore point guard Markee Martin, who leads the team in points (11.1 per game), assists (110) and steals (68). It has four players who score 7.7 points per game or better and five who grab 3.7 rebounds per game or more.
Martin and Vini Dawson, second on the team at 8.0 points per game, are the outside threats as each have hit 20 3-pointers this season. But the Knights are more of an inside team, averaging just 9.6 3-point attempts per game this season compared to nearly 15 for Jay County.
“They’re a very young team ... but they’re talented,” said Comer of the Knights, whose top four scorers are a senior, two sophomores and a freshman. “We’re coming off playing probably as well as we’ve played all year. ... Fort Wayne Luers is a very good team, but we feel like we have just a good chance to win that thing as any of the other three teams in it. ... The most important things is the girls believe we can win the thing.”
The Knights will come in believing as well. They are riding the strength of a 13-game winning streak, having out-scored Fort Wayne Concordia 17-10 in the fourth quarter Saturday for a 49-48 comeback win in sectional championship action. It marked their third win over Concordia this season.
They play outstanding defense having allowed an average of just 41 points per game this season, including a stretch in which three straight opponents failed to break 30.
“These kids at such tender ages play good defense, work hard defensively,” said Rosinski. “We’re been able to be effective against pretty good teams.
“We’ve definitely been tested, especially the last couple of games of the tournament. For these kids to find a way to win tells you a lot about their will to win, to be successful.
“With these kids it’s a brand new ball game. Last year we had a very, very seasoned group. They were a wonderful team, but we fell short of our goals ...”
Bishop Luers and Jay County have just a pair of common opponents this season — Huntington North and Fort Wayne South Side. The Knights topped Southside 62-53, and lost to Huntington North 57-46. The Patriots fell 57-26 to South Side in their season opener and dropped a 67-54 decision to Huntington North.
Comer said he expects it’ll be the little things — rebounding, defense, free throws and taking care of the basketball — which will determine if his team has made sufficient progress since that lopsided loss to South Side to make a run to the state final four.
His team did those things en route to the sectional title. A 62-percent foul-shooting team before tournament play, it hit 31-of-36 free throws (86 percent) in two sectional games. It also allowed just 68 total points in two games, limiting Elwood to its third-lowest output of the season.
“I’m excited for the kids,” said Comer. “I’ve seen this before where a team breaks through during sectional play. And I really think that’s what we’re doing. We’re gelling right at the right time. We’ll just have to see Saturday if that’s good enough.”[[In-content Ad]]
It’s hard to believe you’re going to win the close game when you’ve always fallen short.
It’s hard to believe you can beat a good team when your record says you’re average.
But it only takes one shot, one moment, one game to turn doubt into belief — to make a once shaking hand still.
For the Jay County girls basketball team, that game came Saturday.
“Throughout the whole season we knew that we had a lot of talent on this team,” said junior guard Whitney Homan at practice Wednesday. “But after last weekend, winning the sectional and everything, having that big win last Saturday, it totally just did it.”
Tied at halftime, the Patriots never allowed the Elwood Panthers (19-4) to get the lead in the second half of Saturday’s sectional championship game. Instead they took control, handing an 11-point defeat to one of the many good teams which had victimized them in a 10-10 regular season.
Coach Kirk Comer agrees it was a turning point.
“I’ve said all along to the coaches that I’ve been in this situation before,” he noted. “And when you do something like this — put this schedule together — and you play close and you play close and you play close, you can only keep building them up so long when you’re playing close. But once you win one of them then that sends you over. And it took us to the final game of the sectional to win one of those big games. And I really do think that it has put our program over.
“When we go and play these teams, not only this weekend, but in the future, we believe that we can win.
“The girls are practicing right now with so much confidence. I’m excited about this Saturday. I think we’re going to play very well.”
As the four regional teams from 2004 — the No. 9 Fort Wayne Bishop Luers Knights (20-4), NorthWood Panthers (19-4), Tippecanoe Valley Vikings (11-11) and Jay County — reunite, the Patriots will have to be at their best.
While three of those sport particularly youthful rosters — defending champion NorthWood is the most experienced with four seniors and five juniors — all have seen their share of regional action recently.
This will mark the third straight trip to the regional for both NorthWood and 2004 champion Bishop Luers. It will be the third regional visit in the last four seasons for both Jay County and Tippecanoe Valley, neither of which have ever won a regional title, after both fell short of sectional crowns last season.
The Patriots’ last trip to regional action resulted in a 57-46 loss to Tippecanoe Valley. They fell 62-47 to South Bend St. Joseph’s a year earlier, and have played in a regional championship game just twice in the 30-year history of JCHS.
“It’s an exciting atmosphere and you should go and you should have fun,” said Jay County junior guard Sara Garringer, one of just two players along with senior Markie Runyon who can claim any regional experience. “You might be a little nervous to begin with, but if you play your game of basketball it doesn’t really matter.”
Although the same four teams are back from 2004, Jay County has a different draw this year. It will open against Bishop Luers — the game is scheduled for noon, but will start 20 minutes following the conclusion of the first game between NorthWood and Tippecanoe Valley at 10 a.m.
Knights coach Teri Rosinski said in looking at tape Garringer and Cassandra Huelskamp impressed her. With 37 and 33 3-pointers respectively they are two of the top three long-distance shooters in the regional.
“They have some tremendous shooters, long-ball shooters,” said Rosinski in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “They also do a real nice job of mixing up their defenses.”
Bishop Luers has been powered this year by sophomore point guard Markee Martin, who leads the team in points (11.1 per game), assists (110) and steals (68). It has four players who score 7.7 points per game or better and five who grab 3.7 rebounds per game or more.
Martin and Vini Dawson, second on the team at 8.0 points per game, are the outside threats as each have hit 20 3-pointers this season. But the Knights are more of an inside team, averaging just 9.6 3-point attempts per game this season compared to nearly 15 for Jay County.
“They’re a very young team ... but they’re talented,” said Comer of the Knights, whose top four scorers are a senior, two sophomores and a freshman. “We’re coming off playing probably as well as we’ve played all year. ... Fort Wayne Luers is a very good team, but we feel like we have just a good chance to win that thing as any of the other three teams in it. ... The most important things is the girls believe we can win the thing.”
The Knights will come in believing as well. They are riding the strength of a 13-game winning streak, having out-scored Fort Wayne Concordia 17-10 in the fourth quarter Saturday for a 49-48 comeback win in sectional championship action. It marked their third win over Concordia this season.
They play outstanding defense having allowed an average of just 41 points per game this season, including a stretch in which three straight opponents failed to break 30.
“These kids at such tender ages play good defense, work hard defensively,” said Rosinski. “We’re been able to be effective against pretty good teams.
“We’ve definitely been tested, especially the last couple of games of the tournament. For these kids to find a way to win tells you a lot about their will to win, to be successful.
“With these kids it’s a brand new ball game. Last year we had a very, very seasoned group. They were a wonderful team, but we fell short of our goals ...”
Bishop Luers and Jay County have just a pair of common opponents this season — Huntington North and Fort Wayne South Side. The Knights topped Southside 62-53, and lost to Huntington North 57-46. The Patriots fell 57-26 to South Side in their season opener and dropped a 67-54 decision to Huntington North.
Comer said he expects it’ll be the little things — rebounding, defense, free throws and taking care of the basketball — which will determine if his team has made sufficient progress since that lopsided loss to South Side to make a run to the state final four.
His team did those things en route to the sectional title. A 62-percent foul-shooting team before tournament play, it hit 31-of-36 free throws (86 percent) in two sectional games. It also allowed just 68 total points in two games, limiting Elwood to its third-lowest output of the season.
“I’m excited for the kids,” said Comer. “I’ve seen this before where a team breaks through during sectional play. And I really think that’s what we’re doing. We’re gelling right at the right time. We’ll just have to see Saturday if that’s good enough.”[[In-content Ad]]
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