Surprising 3-pointer sent JC to regional final

Twenty-five years ago this week, the Jay County High School girls basketball team was celebrating a regional semifinal victory.

The Feb. 12, 1996, edition of The Commercial Review featured a story about the Patriots’ 47-46 win over Yorktown that sent them to the regional championship game.

Jay County was in need of a hero as it trailed by two in the closing moments. Tara Miller was it.

Miller, who had never attempted a 3-pointer in her varsity career, buried a shot from long distance to give the Patriots (12-10) an upset win over the Tigers (18-12). The shot capped off a frenzied fourth quarter rally for JCHS, which trailed by six at halftime and was still down by five with just 44 seconds to play.

The 3-pointer capped off six consecutive points for the Patriots as Miller hit her triple from 20 feet out on the left wing.

“We were passing it around on the perimeter and I got the ball from Kerri (Evans),” said Miller. “I looked inside and nobody was open and I just shot it. I didn’t really know how much time was left. I knew it was getting down to a few seconds.”

The clock went from 5 seconds to 4 as the ball went through the net, and Yorktown junior Shannon Layne’s half-court effort at the buzzer bounced off the side of the rim.

Julie Marsh led the Patriots with 19 points and a dozen rebounds. Denae Denney had eight points, and Miller and Linda Cash each had seven.

JCHS went on to fall to the host Wildkats in the title game later in the day.