Patriots rolled to sectional final

Twenty-five years ago Tuesday, the Jay County High School girls basketball team earned its way into a championship game.

The Feb. 2, 1996, edition of The Commercial Review featured coverage of the sectional semifinal at Eastbrook in which the Patriots knocked off Lakeview Christian Academy 49-29.

Defense, as it had been all season, was the key for Jay County as it limited Lakeview Christian to just four second-quarter points. The team had not won a sectional title since 1993.

“It was the goal from day one … to get in a position to get back to Kokomo (regional),” said coach Ned Wicker. “The process is not over yet. In some manner of speaking, we really haven’t accomplished anything yet. The kids are very proud of what they’ve done and they’re really focused.”

Lakeview (11-8) closed a double-digit half time deficit to 24-18 in the third quarter, but the Patriots responded with a six-point run and pulled away in the final period. Julie Marsh led a balanced scoring attack with 12 points while April Frazee had nine (all on 3-pointers), Linda Cash scored eight and Tara Miller finished with six.

“The thing I’ve noticed is we’ve had good fourth quarters all year,” said Wicker. “We have pretty good depth … and our conditioning is coming back. We’ve got that second wind in the fourth quarter and our depth wears people down.”

Jay County went on to defeat the host Panthers for the sectional title.