Jay defense downs Devils

The Patriots started 2017 with a 20-point loss.

Since then, they’ve won by an average of more than 20 points, and defense has been a big reason why.

The Jay County High School girls basketball team forced 30 turnovers and turned many of them into points at the other end on Tuesday in defeating the Richmond Red Devils 54-29.

“We’ve been doing that a lot lately,” said JCHS senior Taylor Homan, who hit four 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 21 points on senior night. “Our games have been really good. We have good ball pressure and we’re forcing a lot of turnovers which creates transition points.

“It’s easy to get leads on teams whenever we’re getting fast break points like that. We’re good at pushing the ball.”

Richmond (3-19) had 17 turnovers in the first half, including a pair of stretches with giveaways on four consecutive possessions.

“We don’t take good care of the basketball,” Richmond coach Casey Pohlenz said. “It has been an Achilles heel all season. They certainly exploited that. They have good length and they’re well disciplined.

“We turn the ball over way too many times to compete with a team like them.”

Jay County, which closed the regular season on an eight-game winning streak after a Jan. 3 loss to Concordia, led 17-9 after the first quarter and pushed the advantage to 25-11 midway through the second. Britlyn Dues (10 points), Hanna Ault (11 points), Gwen Omstead (six points) and Homan all scored off turnovers in the early going of the second period.

“I think we’re doing a lot better rotating on our defense, getting in the passing lanes, being able to get some steals and be able to get some easy baskets,” said JCHS coach Kirk Comer, whose team opens the Class 4A Sectional 6 tournament Tuesday against the host Homestead Spartans, who are ranked second in the state and defeated Jay County 70-38 Nov. 30 in Portland.

If Jay County wasn’t scoring off turnovers against the Red Devils on Tuesday, it was on second-chance opportunities. Omstead and Ault had four offensive rebounds apiece. Ault put back misses by her teammates in each of the first three quarters, and Omstead had one in each of the second and third..

“I thought they did a good job on the boards,” Comer said. The Patriots had 15 offensive rebounds. “That is one of our goals. We really concentrate on rebounding the basketball.

“If we miss it our goal is to get the rebound until we can get it to go in.”

Ault and Homan shared the team lead with five boards each.

In the latter part of the third quarter, Richmond simply had difficulty making shots. The Red Devils missed on three of four possessions — they were whistled for a 10 second violation on the other — to close out the third period, and Kayla Wright missed two free throws. The Patriots, meanwhile, scored the final eight points of the quarter for a 47-20 lead.

Braxtyn Hurley, a Richmond junior, led the Red Devils with 12 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Wright followed with eight, and Anna Creech had seven points.

“Braxtyn played well,” Pohlenz said. “We didn’t give ourselves much of a chance offensively because we turned the ball over too many times. … All credit to Jay County, they played well. They took advantage, they got the turnovers and they made them pay off.”

Junior varsity

Strong starts to each half gave Jay County a 52-21 victory over Richmond.

Jay County (18-3) got out to a 16-6 advantage after the first quarter, and was ahead 22-13 heading into halftime. Another 16-6 margin in the third quarter put the Patriots on top 28-19 heading into the final quarter.

Sam Twigg had a game-high 10 points for Jay County. Kendal Garringer chipped in nine points, including seven in the first quarter. Claire Dirksen followed with eight points and Halle Fields tallied six points, with Mikele Suman and Hanna Dillon adding five points apiece.