Jay girls will play for title

FORT WAYNE — For nearly 18 minutes on Friday, the Patriot girls basketball team was not playing as well as the score suggested.
Jay County trailed Fort Wayne South Side 21-16 almost two minutes into the third quarter.
So JCHS coach Chris Krieg called a time out, told his squad to relax, take care of the basketball and take smart shots.
It was as if the Patriots came out of the break a different team.
And Taylor Homan caught fire.
Homan scored nine of her game- and career-high 20 points in the third quarter, helping the Patriots to a 44-37 victory against the South Side Archers in the semifinal game of the Class 4A Sectional 6 tournament at Homestead.
Jay County advances to the sectional championship at 7 p.m. tonight against the host Spartans, who routed the Wayne Generals 75-40 in the first semifinal. Homestead is ranked fourth in the state and is the defending sectional champion.
“We did a lot better defensively, and we talked more,” Homan, who was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field, said of her team in the third quarter. “We got to the shooters a little bit better. We just finished some shots, and we took care of the ball.”
Following Krieg’s timeout, Jay County (20-5) got into a groove, scoring eight straight points. Homan’s first bucket of the frame came on an assist by Catherine Dunn, who then dished the ball to Ava Kunkler for two the next time down the court.
Homan hit a jumper from the right side to give the Patriots the lead, and then benefitted from an assist by Abby Wendel to score two more to make it 24-21 and force South Side coach Juanita Goodwell to call a timeout.

But Homan wasn’t done quite yet.
Following a bucket by South Side freshman Taniece Chapman at the other end, Dunn drove the lane and kicked it out to Homan, who was parked on the left wing. The sophomore swished a 3-pointer to give Jay County a 27-23 lead with 1:18 left to play in the third.
“I just looked to shoot it,” Homan said. “I just had to follow through and stay focused … because it was the biggest game of the season by far.”
Krieg had few words when speaking of the performance from the sophomore.
“Taylor Homan … wow,” he said. “The gal stepped up and had a huge night.”
Dunn, who had a game-high seven assists, sank a pair of free throws in the final minute, and Hanna Ault scored on a fast break with 10 seconds remaining in the third to take a 31-23 lead into the fourth quarter.
South Side (8-15) got back to within two, 31-29, thanks to 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions by Shamari Jackson. She scored 12 of her team-high 14 points from long distance as the Archers were 6-of-24 (25 percent) from behind the 3-point line.
But the Patriots used a 10-point run — four by Wendel, two each by Bre McIntire and Kunkler, and one apiece from Dunn and Homan — to take their largest lead of the game, 41-29, with less than two minutes to play.
And as the clock ticked away on the Archers’ season, Homan said she didn’t quite count them out just yet.
“I was thinking that we needed to stay focused and not let off because they’re good at fighting back,” she said.
Just not this time.
Much like the sectional opener on Tuesday against Huntington North, Jay County struggled offensively in the first quarter. After McIntire made the first bucket of the game, the Patriots were 6-of-17 from the field the remainder of the half and had 11 turnovers.
Jay County found itself in a 7-2 hole early on, but scored the final five points of the frame on a Homan triple and points in the paint from Kunkler to pull even. It had a 14-12 lead three minutes into the second quarter until South Side scored five straight points for a 17-16 halftime lead.
But like they did on Tuesday against the Vikings — and as they have in close games all season — the Patriots fought back.
“We just needed to relax. We had been in that situation before,” said Homan. She and the Patriots defeated the Archers Nov. 25 at South Side. “It was the same thing last time we played them; we were down early and had to fight our way back.”
For Krieg, whose team snapped a six-game losing streak against South Side this season, beating the Archers twice in the same year is something he will remember for a long time.
“It’s the biggest win of my coaching career,” he said.