Pressure pays

After a dismal offensive performance in his team’s first loss of the season, Kirk Comer used a week’s worth of practice to emphasize the importance of working the ball inside out.
Getting some easy fast-break buckets didn’t hurt either.
Jay County used its pressure defense to spark a 13-0 run early in Friday’s game and never trailed again as it rolled to a 61-35 victory over the visiting Woodlan Warriors.
“I thought we did a good job in the first half on our presses, being able to create the tempo,” said Comer, whose team is now 20-0 against Allen County Athletic Conference foes since joining the league in 2014. “We were hoping we would be able to turn them over and get some easy baskets. Fortunately we were able to do that.”
Woodlan focused on attacking the paint and had a three-point lead midway through the first quarter before the Patriots (4-1, 1-0 ACAC) switched to their full-court trapping defense. The changed led to a run of Warrior turnovers as Jay County scored the final nine points of the opening quarter.
After senior Emily Muhlenkamp hit a layup, her sophomore sister Kendra served as the spark for remainder of the period. She scored first off an assist from Taylor Homan, then came up with a steal and assist to Gwen Omstead, then buried a 3-pointer off of an Omstead assist.
The Patriots stayed hot after the quarter break, with Hanna Ault assisting on a Britlyn Dues hoop before scoring herself following a steal and assist from the third Muhlenkamp sister, Briana.
After shooting less than 27 percent in the Nov. 19 loss to Winchester, JCHS hit for 46 percent against Woodlan with assists on 17 of its 25 made baskets.

“We really took the Winchester game to heart,” said Dues, who led the team with 11 points while Ault and Kendra Muhlenkamp added 10 apiece. “Shooting as bad as we did, we knew that we had to do a lot more — get in the paint, work it inside-out — because we are a good shooting team but we have to get those shots open. We can’t just pass it around the perimeter and expect to get shots. Tonight I felt we really worked as a team …”
The team concept, which also saw Taylor Homan tally eight points, helped the Patriots overcome Woodlan star Rain Hinton’s 23-point effort. After missing her first seven field-goal attempts she went 8-of-10 the rest of the way and hit a couple of 3-pointers.
“She didn’t even want to shoot a 3-pointer last year,” said Woodlan coach Gary Cobb of the senior who also had eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks. “And now she’s worked on her game enough.
“We probably should have gone to that earlier, but it was hard to get into anything because we couldn’t get the ball from here to there,” he added, lamenting the turnover issues.
Homan and Ault each grabbed seven rebounds for the Patriots, and Briana Muhlenkamp finished with a game-high four assists.
The victory was Comer’s 100th in six-plus years leading the Patriots.
“That’s great. He’s really great for us,” said Homan, whose sister Whitney played for Comer during his first stint at JCHS. “We want to play really hard for him. For us to do that for him makes us happy.”
Comer is 287-163 overall in 22 seasons. He gave the credit for the milestone win to the girls.
“It’s the players. I’ve been fortunate to coach good players not only here but everywhere I’ve been,” said Comer, who has also coached at Daleville, Union, Union City, Winchester and Monroe Central. “I’m just very lucky. Not only are they good basketball players, but they’re great kids. I love coming to basketball practice every night.”

Junior varsity
Jay County pulled away in the second quarter and was in control throughout the second half in a 46-25 victory over the Warriors.
The Patriots led by just one after the opening period before outscoring Woodlan 19-3 in the second quarter. Hanna Dillon, Kendal Garringer and Claire Dirksen each scored four points in the period.
Garringer paced JCHS with 10 points. Hannah Phillips and Dillon followed with eight points apiece, and Dirksen scored six.
Gabby Joyce posted a team-high nine points for the Warriors. Lexia Holmes added four.