Weitzel shot saves JC in sectional opener (02/11/04)

ELWOOD — Even if she doesn’t make another shot, Lisa Weitzel will be the MVP of the postseason for the Jay County girls basketball team. No matter how far they go, they will have gotten there because of her.

After the Patriots blew a 16-point, fourth-quarter lead, Weitzel hit a running jumper at the buzzer to send Tuesday’s first-round sectional contest to overtime. Jay County finally handled the Mississinewa Indians in the extra session for a 61-50 win.

“It felt good,” said Weitzel. “It helped us advance.”

“When (Christy Mellor) missed that second free throw we were pushing,” said Patriot coach Lea Selvey. “We told them if we were down one or two to take it to the basket. Lisa did.

“The good news is we’re playing Friday.”

Mellor, who scored 11 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, was at the line with 5.6 seconds left with a chance to give the Indians a three-point lead. She made the first free throw but missed the second — her first missed foul shot in eight second-half tries — and Jay County’s Felisha Parr came down with the ball.

Parr passed to Lindsay Friddle, who drove the ball down the right side of the floor. As she headed for the hoop the Mississinewa defense collapsed around her and Friddle flipped the ball back to Weitzel, who was trailing the play.

Weitzel caught the pass and launched her shot from a few steps inside the foul line. It fell through as the final tenths ticked off the clock for a 48-48 tie to force overtime.

It was quite the turn of events for Weitzel, who missed much of the second half with a foot injury.

“I didn’t even think I’d be playing,” she said.

She tried to pass off the shot as lucky. But, anyone who has seen Weitzel shoot knows better.

“It was impressive,” said Selvey of the game-tying bucket. “Right now we’re fortunate. We didn’t play very good defense or rebound down the stretch.”

The Patriots (12-8) will play Delta (8-12) in the first of two sectional semifinal games at Elwood Friday at 6 p.m. Blackford (8-11) will battle Tipton (9-11) in the other semifinal contest.

Delta got through the first round with a 50-43 overtime triumph over Elwood in Tuesday’s opening game. Jay County defeated Delta 57-42 a week ago.

“We’ll have to play better (against Delta),” said Selvey. “We know that.”

Weitzel earned praise as the hero Tuesday, but the reality is she never should have been in a position to be one. Jay County defeated Mississinewa 67-23 in their meeting earlier the season, and had a 16-point lead with just five minutes to play.

The Indians (3-17) came storming back with a 20-2 run with Jay County turning the ball over left and right. They scored eight straight points before a Felisha Parr hoop, and then hit for 12 more in a row, taking the lead on foul shots by Lacey Murgaw.

Murgaw’s free throws put them up 47-46 with 45 seconds to go. After a couple of failed chances by both teams Mellor split her shots for the two-point advantage, only to have Weitzel’s shot tie the game.

Mississinewa was able to rally in large part because of unconscious foul shooting. After making just 1-of-6 free throws in the first half the Indians hit 13-of-14 in the second, with the only miss coming on Mellor’s final try.

“We challenged them at halftime,” said Mississinewa coach Bryan Elliott. “We felt like we’d have at least one more chance to get back in the ballgame. We came out and picked up the intensity defensively.

“The attitude has been positive all year. The kids came to work and tried to do the things we asked of them. They have come a long way the last six or seven games.”

Lacey Murgaw paced the Indians with a game-high 17 points. She also grabbed eight rebounds and had two assists.

Mellor, the lone senior on the Mississinewa roster, grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and finished 8-of-11 from the foul line. Britne Wimmer finished with nine points.

Selvey said his team got away from its game plan after leading by 13 at halftime and increasing the advantage to 16 points in the fourth quarter. Thirteen of the Patriots’ 23 give-aways came after the intermission, mostly in the final quarter.

“We kind of got the lead and just quit playing,” Selvey said. “We just all of a sudden fell in love won one pass and fire it up. And, there were no boards.”

Jay County was outrebounded 36-34 by the Indians, whose tallest player is 5-foot-9. The Patriots have six players at 5-foot-9 or taller.

Parr paced Jay County with 16 points. She added six rebounds, three blocks and two assists.

Friddle and Jamie Bruggeman also reached double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively. Markie Runyon had seven rebounds, four blocks and two assists, and Bruggeman had five rebounds and five assists.

Delta 50, Elwood 43, OT

Kelly Costello led an outstanding effort by the Delta Eagles as they knocked the host and favorite Elwood Panthers out of the sectional tournament with a 50-43 overtime victory Tuesday.

Elwood finished the year at 16-5, but two of those losses came against the Eagles.

Despite missing a pair of possible game-winning free throws with 5.6 seconds to go in regulation, Costello led Delta with 17 points. She was the key to rallying her team to an 9-0 run after trailing 21-18 in the third quarter.

She had a chance to win the game with her late foul shots, but it went into overtime after the misses and an off-the-mark, desperation 3-pointer by Elwood’s Kyleigh Jones at the buzzer.

Delta dominated the overtime period, opening on a 6-1 run on the way to the win. Liz Capstick and Amanda Downing followed Costello with nine points apiece.

Jones, who hit the game-tying shot with 14 seconds left, couldn’t pull off the win as she finished with a team-high 13 points in the defeat. Morgan Groover scored eight points.[[In-content Ad]]