Late free throws lift girls over Raiders

PONETO — Jay County almost saw its first year in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament end on the night it began.
But one of the main focal points of the season for the Patriots is what kept their tournament hopes alive.
The Jay County High School girls basketball team made five of its six free-throw attempts in the final three minutes Tuesday to hang on for a 39-32 quarterfinal victory against Southern Wells.
“If we don’t make the free throws we don’t win,” said JCHS coach Chris Krieg, whose team will host Bluffton at 7 p.m. Thursday in the tournament semifinal. The winner will advance to Saturday’s title game against either Heritage or Leo. “They shot a better field-goal percentage than us, we just made more free throws than them.”
Junior forward Ava Kunkler, who hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds, said making the shots from the line is critical in big games.
“They’re really important,” she said. “It’s all about focus, because you can hit as many as you want in practice and then get in the game and miss them.”
But down the stretch, Kunkler and her teammates stepped up to the line and rarely missed. The Patriots (11-3) shot 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) while the Raiders were 4-of-10 (40 percent).
Clinging to a 31-29 lead midway through the fourth quarter, sophomore Taylor Homan nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner in front of her team’s bench, but Savannah Deakyne of Southern Wells (5-10) matched it with a trey from the left corner as well.
Following a miss at the offensive end of the court, Kunkler was sent to the free throw line and made both shots. The Raiders were whistled for traveling on the ensuing possession, and Homan hit the front end of a one-and-one to put the Patriots up 37-32 with 2:26 to play.
Homan led all players with 11 points, a new season high, and her only rebound of the contest came on a 3-point attempt on the Raiders’ final possession.
Jay County had two chances to extend its lead late in the fourth, but two turnovers following back-to-back misses by Southern Wells gave the Raiders the ball back with under a minute to play.
Another miss gave Jay County possession with 46 seconds left, and after a foul Catherine Dunn sank both of her one-and-one freebies to seal the victory.
“I think we kind of got to a place in the game that we hadn’t been before against a good team and (we) didn’t handle it very well on the offensive end,” said Southern Wells coach John Fouts. “And on the defensive end we got ourselves into a little bit of trouble too.”
Part of that trouble was allowing Kunkler to control the boards. Eight of her 11 grabs came on the defensive side of the court, and she did most of her damage in the first half as Jay County had a 16-12 lead at the break.
Southern Wells stayed within two possessions for the entire game, and went on a 9-0 run to close the third quarter and take a 25-22 advantage. It was the only lead of the game for the host team.
Jay County got the advantage back, 26-25, thanks to a pair of free throws by Homan and an offensive rebound put back by Abby Wendel. Southern Wells tied it at 27 with five minutes left in the game before Wendel found an open Bre McIntire for a bucket and then hit a turnaround jumper from the right side to give the Patriots a 31-27 advantage.
Arrianne Moore, who had four points and seven rebounds for Southern Wells, drove through the lane for two before Homan hit her 3-pointer.
Despite the victory, Jay County didn’t shoot well, which was a stark contrast from the beginning of the season for the Patriots.
“Right now, we’re not taking smart shots,” Krieg said of his team’s 12-for-42 effort from the floor. “Earlier in the year we were taking great shots. We were passing up good shots for great shots.
“Tonight, we settled for the contested shot 12 to 15 feet from the basket. Those are bad shots.”
Kunkler, who has been a good presence for the Patriots under the hoop this season, was pleased with how she and her teammates were able to come back and get the victory.
“We really just had to find a way to win,” she said. “It was kind of a struggle, but hopefully we play a little better on Thursday.
“I think we lost a little confidence in the three games we lost. We just need to find that again and we should be fine.”