January 14, 2017 at 6:48 a.m.
Third time coming
Strong third quarter puts Jay Co. back in title game
Third time coming
The Patriots will defend their title.
Again.
The host Jay County High School girls basketball team scored the final 15 points of the third quarter and the first four of the fourth in avenging a regular-season loss to the South Adams Starfires with a 55-39 victory Friday night in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament semifinal.
“I thought defensively we were able to get stops,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team is the two-time defending conference champion and meets the Woodlan Warriors in the ACAC tournament final. Tip is slated for 7:30 p.m. tonight at StarDome in Berne.
Jay County beat Woodlan 61-35 on Nov. 25, and also defeated the Warriors 53-28 in the tournament final last season.
“We’ve been able to turn people over and get stops but we haven’t been able to convert,” Comer continued. “Tonight we were able to convert in the second half.”
Jay County (11-7), which led 25-23 at halftime, pushed the advantage over South Adams (10-8) to 30-26 with 6 minutes, 51 seconds, left in the third quarter. SAHS junior Lexi Dellinger scored five straight points to put the Starfires ahead with about 5:30 to play.
They didn’t score again for nearly eight minutes.
Taylor Homan — the JCHS senior had a team-high 16 points — drained a jumper from the left block to put the Patriots back on top, 32-31. Britlyn Dues, who was second on the team with 13 points, made three of four free throws before an Emily Muhlenkamp layup made it 37-31.
Following a Starfire turnover, Dues drove the left baseline for a basket to make it 39-31 and force SAHS coach Brett Freeman into taking a timeout.
“It was frustrating to see us not play our best in this opportunity,” said Freeman, whose team defeated the Patriots 50-40 three weeks earlier. “Tonight (we) didn’t quite have the rhythm to what we were doing. Jay County’s defense obviously takes you out of some of that rhythm.”
Again.
The host Jay County High School girls basketball team scored the final 15 points of the third quarter and the first four of the fourth in avenging a regular-season loss to the South Adams Starfires with a 55-39 victory Friday night in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament semifinal.
“I thought defensively we were able to get stops,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team is the two-time defending conference champion and meets the Woodlan Warriors in the ACAC tournament final. Tip is slated for 7:30 p.m. tonight at StarDome in Berne.
Jay County beat Woodlan 61-35 on Nov. 25, and also defeated the Warriors 53-28 in the tournament final last season.
“We’ve been able to turn people over and get stops but we haven’t been able to convert,” Comer continued. “Tonight we were able to convert in the second half.”
Jay County (11-7), which led 25-23 at halftime, pushed the advantage over South Adams (10-8) to 30-26 with 6 minutes, 51 seconds, left in the third quarter. SAHS junior Lexi Dellinger scored five straight points to put the Starfires ahead with about 5:30 to play.
They didn’t score again for nearly eight minutes.
Taylor Homan — the JCHS senior had a team-high 16 points — drained a jumper from the left block to put the Patriots back on top, 32-31. Britlyn Dues, who was second on the team with 13 points, made three of four free throws before an Emily Muhlenkamp layup made it 37-31.
Following a Starfire turnover, Dues drove the left baseline for a basket to make it 39-31 and force SAHS coach Brett Freeman into taking a timeout.
“It was frustrating to see us not play our best in this opportunity,” said Freeman, whose team defeated the Patriots 50-40 three weeks earlier. “Tonight (we) didn’t quite have the rhythm to what we were doing. Jay County’s defense obviously takes you out of some of that rhythm.”
South Adams turned the ball over on its final five possessions of the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Patriots grabbed eight offensive rebounds in the period to keep their possessions alive. Jay County finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds to just 12 on defense for the Starfires.
“It was huge,” Comer said.
Hanna Ault (10 points, six rebounds) connected on a layup on an assist from Muhlenkamp to keep one such possession alive. Her basket made it 41-31. Dues and Kendra Muhlenkamp (eight points) also had baskets in the final 62 seconds of the third quarter.
“Rebounds has always been the most important stat to me and the girls know that,” Comer said. “Tonight it was huge.”
Homan and Dues each had seven rebounds as the Patriots held a 35-17 edge on the glass.
After consecutive baskets by Homan, Dellinger made a pair of free throws almost three minutes into the fourth quarter to stop the Patriots’ run. Dellinger finished with a game-high 26 points, including a 14-for-16 effort from the free-throw line.
“Usually, especially here as of late, she’s been getting to the foul line quite a bit,” Freeman said. “She’s been doing a good job of penetrating.”
South Adams and Jay County traded streaks during the first half. Ault and Homan both hit 3-pointers to start the game for a 6-0 JCHS lead, but then the Starfires scored the next eight points.
South Adams later pushed the advantage to 12-8 early in the second quarter until a 9-0 run put Jay County on top, 17-12. The Patriots led by as many as six points in the final three minutes, but the Starfires clawed their way back to trim the margin to three points at intermission.
“In the first half we led by a few points then fell behind by a few points,” Freeman said. “Closed to three at halftime; that was after a lot of silly turnovers and some offensive rebounds.
“Those things kind of kept showing their head in the second half and led to (Jay County) starting to pull away.”
Jay County now has a chance to become the first team to win the ACAC tournament three consecutive years since Heritage did it from 2005 through ’07. The Patriots have played in the final each of their first three years in the conference, but Comer expects a different game against Woodlan than his team had in its 26-point victory seven weeks ago.
“It’s going to be a lot tougher game,” he said. “Just like tonight, we’re going to have to play good defense, we’re going to have to rebound the basketball and control the turnovers.”
“It was huge,” Comer said.
Hanna Ault (10 points, six rebounds) connected on a layup on an assist from Muhlenkamp to keep one such possession alive. Her basket made it 41-31. Dues and Kendra Muhlenkamp (eight points) also had baskets in the final 62 seconds of the third quarter.
“Rebounds has always been the most important stat to me and the girls know that,” Comer said. “Tonight it was huge.”
Homan and Dues each had seven rebounds as the Patriots held a 35-17 edge on the glass.
After consecutive baskets by Homan, Dellinger made a pair of free throws almost three minutes into the fourth quarter to stop the Patriots’ run. Dellinger finished with a game-high 26 points, including a 14-for-16 effort from the free-throw line.
“Usually, especially here as of late, she’s been getting to the foul line quite a bit,” Freeman said. “She’s been doing a good job of penetrating.”
South Adams and Jay County traded streaks during the first half. Ault and Homan both hit 3-pointers to start the game for a 6-0 JCHS lead, but then the Starfires scored the next eight points.
South Adams later pushed the advantage to 12-8 early in the second quarter until a 9-0 run put Jay County on top, 17-12. The Patriots led by as many as six points in the final three minutes, but the Starfires clawed their way back to trim the margin to three points at intermission.
“In the first half we led by a few points then fell behind by a few points,” Freeman said. “Closed to three at halftime; that was after a lot of silly turnovers and some offensive rebounds.
“Those things kind of kept showing their head in the second half and led to (Jay County) starting to pull away.”
Jay County now has a chance to become the first team to win the ACAC tournament three consecutive years since Heritage did it from 2005 through ’07. The Patriots have played in the final each of their first three years in the conference, but Comer expects a different game against Woodlan than his team had in its 26-point victory seven weeks ago.
“It’s going to be a lot tougher game,” he said. “Just like tonight, we’re going to have to play good defense, we’re going to have to rebound the basketball and control the turnovers.”
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