Strong start stuns Squaws

By CHRIS SCHANZ
The Commercial Review
In each of their first two games this season, the Patriots had a slow start on offense.
It didn’t happen for a third straight.
The Jay County High School girls basketball team scored on a set play off the opening tip on its way to making the first eight shots it took and dominated the glass Friday night in a 61-36 victory over the visiting Bellmont Squaws.
“We got off to a lot better start tonight,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team shot better than 50 percent from the field for its best offensive performance of the young season. “Gives us a little confidence going into the second quarter with a little lead.
“It’s a lot nicer to get off to a good start like that.”
Junior Hanna Ault pushed the opening tip to Shelby Caldwell, who passed to a streaking Emily Muhlenkamp for the first basket of the game. Britlyn Dues followed with back-to-back buckets as Jay County (3-0) scored the first six points in a game during which it never trailed.
“They kind of came out and punched us in the mouth a little bit and it was hard for us to recover,” said Bellmont coach Andy Heim, whose team falls to 2-3. “We also didn’t play our best tonight. It’s a two-fold contributing factor, maybe one thing leads to the other.”
Grace Hunter — she led the Squaws with 13 points — made a basket and a foul shot for Bellmont’s first points, then Dues and Shelby Caldwell answered with consecutive 3-pointers. Dues drained hers from the right corner on an assist from Ault, then dished a pass to Caldwell at the top of the key for a wide-open trey.
Jay County, which was 8-of-17 from long range, made four 3-pointers in the opening quarter and had six by halftime. Taylor Homan, Briana Muhlenkamp, Audrey Shreve and Ault also made baskets from beyond the arc.
“They ran their sets to perfection and got wide open looks and we didn’t do a very good job of switching or getting out on their shooters,” Heim said. “Give their shooters credit, they were knocking them down.”
On the seemingly few occasions the Patriots missed, they were there to grab the rebounds. Jay County had a 15-10 edge on the glass at the offensive end, and out-rebounded Bellmont 35-20 for the contest. 
“I thought rebounding was huge,” Comer said. “For the third game in a row we’re smaller than our opponents but we’ve out-rebounded every opponent so far.”
Maddie Sonnenburg and Hunter combined to score six straight points for Bellmont, which pulled within 12-9 midway through the first quarter. But Homan’s triple, and a basket by Kendra Muhlenkamp started a 10-2 run to close out the period.
“Obviously when you hit shots it really helps things,” Comer said. “The good thing with this team is they are sharing the ball and they are drawing double team and getting people open shots.
“We have girls that if you leave them open they’re going to knock them down.”
Caldwell became the third different player to lead Jay County in scoring as she finished with 13 points. She also had three rebounds and a pair of assists before exiting the game with a knee injury late in the fourth quarter.
Dues had a season-high 11 points, and Homan chipped in with 10 for her third straight game reaching double digits. Ault contributed game highs in rebounds (seven) and assists (three).
“It is great because it is hard for the opponents to scout,” Comer said. “How do you (prepare) against us? Who do you want to stop? Someone else will step up.
“We are a deep team and the more we continue to play well the more and more confidence the girls will get.”
As good as the Patriots’ offense was on Friday, its defense was just as solid in stopping Hunter, who was averaging 19.3 points per game through the Squaws’ first three contests. Hunter scored 10 of her 13 points in the first half, and four of them were from the free-throw line.
Comer kept a steady rotation of defenders on the sophomore, who she had to work for every shot she took. She was 4-for-11 from the field, and made one of her five shots from 3-point range.
“I thought they did a nice job with her, face guarding her at times and putting a little bit of contact on her at times,” Heim said.

Junior varsity
A strong second quarter gave Jay County its third win of the season in knocking off Bellmont 34-27.
The Patriots (3-0) led just 7-6 after the first quarter, but a 10-3 edge in the second gave them a 17-9 advantage at intermission. The lead ballooned to 25-15 heading into the fourth quarter, during which Bellmont made a push but wasn’t able to overcome the deficit.
Hanna Dillon led Jay County with 10 points. Samm Twigg and Claire Dirksen both chipped in with eight points, and Hannah Phillips added four. Kendal Garringer and Hallie Fields each had two points.