Patriots rally past Vikings

FORT WAYNE — The Patriots started slowly on Tuesday.
Really slowly.
They missed their first eight shots of the game and were just 2-of-12 in the opening quarter
But Jay County High School’s girls basketball team broke out of its slump, shot 50 percent in the final three quarters and forced the Huntington North Vikings to turn the ball over on seven of its final nine possessions in a 46-39 come-from-behind victory in the Class 4A Sectional 6 opener at Homestead.
The Patriots advance to the sectional semifinal against Fort Wayne South Side at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Jay County defeated the Archers 42-36 Nov. 25.
“We’ve done that all season,” JCHS senior Catherine Dunn said of the Patriots not giving up Tuesday despite finding themselves in an early hole. “We’ve had some tough games and some tough times. We always just keep going, and I think it definitely showed tonight.
“We came out and we had a little bit of nerves. Once we got past that we kept pushing and kept fighting.”
And that was most prevalent in the final quarter. Jay County (19-5) trailed 37-32 before going on an 8-0 run to open the fourth quarter.
Dunn, who scored 10 of her game-high 18 points in the final period, sparked the run with a 3-pointer from the left wing on an assist by Abby Wendel 39 seconds into the frame. Bre McIntire split a pair of free throws a minute later to make it 37-36, and then the Patriot defense clamped down on Huntington North (9-13).
A steal by Dunn at the top of the key led to two fast-break points at the other end to give Jay County its second lead of the game.
On the next trip down the court, Wendel again found Dunn cutting to the hoop for a bucket and a 40-37 Patriot advantage with 5:02 left to play.
Jay County had two more chances to cushion the lead but Dunn missed three straight free throws giving Huntington North an opportunity to cut into the deficit.
Madi Canady split a pair of Patriot defenders in the lane for a layup with 1:15 remaining to make it 40-39.
With time running out and the Vikings unable to hold onto the ball late in the fourth, they were forced to send the Patriots to the free-throw line.
On paper, it wasn’t a bad strategy. The Patriots were just 4-of-8 for the game at that point. But they made six of their eight attempts from the line in the final 72 seconds to put the game out of reach.
“The fourth quarter we only scored two points,” said HNHS coach Heidi Lawson, whose team was 1-of-7 shooting with seven turnovers in the final eight minutes. “They did an excellent job of getting the lead and holding the ball, passing it, making their cuts and looking for a good shot.
“Jay County is a very good team, well coached and fundamentally sound. The better team tonight won.”
For the first eight minutes, Jay County did not look like the better team.
The Patriots came out flat, missing multiple shots in the paint. They took four shots on the game’s opening possession, all of which missed the mark.
It was a start Krieg anticipated.
“I’ll be honest, I was expecting that just because nerves and the way we practiced the night before,” he said. “We had probably one of our worst practices (Monday).”
The struggles in the opening quarter helped Huntington North to a 9-0 run to start the contest. Madi Canady opened the scoring on a 3-pointer from the left wing, and added a pair of free throws to tally five of her nine points in the game.
Jay County didn’t hit the scoreboard until more than six minutes had passed, and it trailed 12-5 heading into the second.
Huntington North built an 11-point lead, 20-9, on a 3-pointer from Karmen Koch and five consecutive points from Hannah Stoffel. The Vikings were able to pick apart Jay County’s zone defense, driving to the hoop and then kicking it outside to the open shooters. The Vikings were 5-of-9 from long distance in the first half.
The Patriots snapped out the slump midway through the second quarter, scored on five of their final six possessions to close out the half on a 12-3 run and went into halftime trailing 23-21.
“Basketball is a game of runs and we talk about it all the time,” said Krieg. “It’s a game of momentum. They had it pretty much the whole first quarter, then we had it in the second.”
After the break, Huntington North had momentum in its favor as it pushed its lead to five, but Jay County clawed back on four points by Ava Kunkler and two each by Taylor Homan and Wendel. Momentum swung back in favor of Huntington North until the Patriots switched to man-to-man defense and took over the game in the final period.
“That fourth quarter was all us,” Krieg said.