Patriots fall from unbeatens

The Patriots had a chance.
After spending the majority of the game behind on the scoreboard, an eight-point run put Jay County within two possessions late in the fourth quarter.
But a lack of execution and a costly turnover was enough to swing momentum the other way as the Jay County High School girls basketball team lost 60-47 on Thursday to the New Castle Trojans.
“We had the ball down five (52-47),” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, who had won the previous 30 regular season games as the Patriot coach. “We were running a set (play). We tried to run it twice. First time we didn’t know what we were doing, which I am really disappointed we just couldn’t call it and run it. The next time we made a bad pass and just didn’t execute the play.”
Jay County’s defense had just forced a five-second violation by New Castle (7-1) to get the ball with 1 minute, 44 seconds remaining in the contest. The Patriots tried to get the ball to senior Lyla Muhlenkamp — she was 3-of-7 from 3-point range for the game — but a bad inbound pass ended the opportunity.
“Maybe we get that shot off and hit it,” Comer said. “It puts the pressure on them then (and) maybe we’ve got a chance going down the stretch.”
Following the turnover, New Castle’s defense tightened, and its offense made eight of 10 free throws to put the game out of reach.
“At times Jay County deserved to win that game,” said New Castle coach Corie West. “To be honest, I didn’t feel like we were going to pull that off.
“Our defense has kept us in most of our games this season and luckily we got a few stops in the end. Jay County just played extremely hard.”
The Patriots had to.
Trojan senior Laura Thomas — she led all players with 20 points and had a team-high seven rebounds — scored the first five points of the fourth quarter. She drove the lane for a bucket on the opening possession and then hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to give her team the biggest lead of the game, 52-39.
At that point, Jay County started its comeback.
Ava Kunkler started the run with a shot in the paint, and Emily Muhlenkamp followed it by splitting a pair of free throws. Abby Wendel, who had a team-high 14 points and seven boards, drove the lane for a basket as well to cut the deficit to eight. Hanna Ault also had two points, and Kunkler split a pair of shots from the charity stripe to complete the run.
“They have a really great team,” West said. “We probably got a couple calls, we got a couple stops and luckily for us it ended up in a win.”
New Castle built its lead in the first half thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers. The Trojans took 21 shots in the first 16 minutes, and a baker’s dozen of them were from long distance. They made eight, four of which were from Sarah Downs as the junior scored nine straight New Castle points.
“Downs killed us in the first half,” Comer said. “That is on me because we watched them and she hasn’t done that.”
Her teammates were hitting from the outside too. Cassie Underwood drained a pair of triples in the opening quarter, with Samantha Underwood and Thomas making from long distance as well.
“It was bombs away,” West said. Jay County freshman Shelby Caldwell and Muhlenkamp alternated threes with Downs. “Games like that are fun to watch, fun to be a part of.”
Muhlenkamp, who was second on the team with 12 points, had a 3-pointer bounce around the hoop and fall through to put the Patriots within two, 29-27, just before half. Downs answered with another three at the other end, and back-to-back buckets by Thomas gave New Castle a 36-27 lead it took into intermission.
 “We became a better basketball team tonight by playing them,” said Comer, whose team hosts new sectional rival Muncie Central on Tuesday. “Hopefully we can take away that we can compete with the top teams. We’re not just wanting to go out and play. We want to be able to beat teams like this.
“There (are) no moral victories. We’re not satisfied with coming close tonight. We come in here to win. Before you can win games like this you have to have the experience.”

Junior varsity
The Patriots had a narrow lead after the first quarter and held the Trojans without a point during the second in a 38-26 victory.
Jay County (9-0) led 10-8 after the first seven minutes, and added three more in the low-scoring second quarter. Its offense found its groove at halftime, scoring 13 and 12 points respectively in the final two periods. The Trojans (6-2) also got life after the break, but weren’t able to catch up to the Patriots.
Gwen Omstead scored eight points and Kendra Muhlenkamp added seven to lead the Patriots. Klarisa Hemmelgarn followed with six and Hanna Dillon notched five. Hannah Phillips and Briana Muhlenkamp both tallied four points.