Charity work

Sophie Saxman struggled mightily from the free throw line in the 2022-23 season.

Those in attendance for her most recent performance never would have guessed that.

Saxman nailed 10-of-12 free throws (83.3%) for the Jay County High School girls basketball team as it took out its sectional rival, the Yorktown Tigers, 49-37 Tuesday.

“I’m just very pleased with our effort,” Patriots coach Sherri McIntire said. “We had a lot of kids step up and play well. … They didn’t seem to get shook at all by being down there for a little bit.”

Last season, Saxman shot 31-for-98 from the charity stripe (31.6%). This season, she improved that clip by 28.1 percentage points while shooting 43-for-72 (59.7%).

Time and time again Tuesday, the JCHS senior found ways to get to the line, including a post move on which she was hacked, an offensive rebound off of a free throw miss by Hallie Schwieterman, a couple of drives and a handful of bonus free throws. In the second quarter, Saxman hit all eight foul shots. She didn’t miss one until early in the fourth quarter.

Ten of Saxman’s game-high 16 points came from the charity stripe to wrap up the performance that displayed tangible improvement from the struggles of 2022-23.

“I was just in my head so much last year because I just kept missing and it kept building up,” Saxman said. “I give credit to (assistant coach) Andy Wellman, (assistant coach Marc Bogenschutz) and my dad because every time they give me something to think about, so I'm not like overthinking in my head. They've helped a lot.”

She had a double-double with team highs in rebounds (10) and assists (four) as well.

Saxman’s efforts didn’t only pay off for herself. Her constantly drawing fouls helped other players get to the line through the bonus in both the second and fourth quarters. Twelve of Jay County’s 19 second-quarter points came from the foul line.

On the night, Jay County (12-2) went 16-for-24 (66.7%) from the line, with Schwieterman hitting the other six shots.

Another key turning point in the second quarter was the Patriots’ switch from their 1-2-2 zone defense to a man-to-man. Yorktown had hit five 3-point shots in the first half before McIntire had her team matchup with the Tigers with two minutes remaining.

Immediately, it created a pair of turnovers, and held Yorktown quiet from distance as defenders didn’t have as far to close out on skip passes. The only other basket of the half for Yorktown came on an out-of-bounds play in which Alexis Fields caught a lob from Addy Barnes near the hoop and laid it up.

McIntire said she felt the switch also helped swing the momentum in the Patriots’ favor, prompting her to stick with the defense.

Jay County freshman Hallie Schwieterman lifts off to put in a layup during the Patriots' 49-37 win against Yorktown on Tuesday. Schwieterman dropped 15 points in the victory, only one behind the game-high 16 by Sophie Saxman. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Along with slowing down the Tigers from 3-point range, the switch to man matched up Breanna Dirksen with Barnes, Yorktown’s second-leading scorer at 8.4 points per game, and also the focal point of the offense to that point in the game hitting a pair of threes and a two-point pull-up.

After the switch to man, Dirksen only allowed one more shot to fall for Barnes as she shot 1-for-6 from the field in the second half.

“Breanna Dirksen is just a really good defender, and part of her being such a good defender is she just plays with so much heart,” McIntire said. “She just doesn’t have any quit in her and she’s our best defender because of that. She’s going to come out and play hard even when she’s dog tired.”

Along with the strong defensive performance, Dirksen, along with Schwieterman, played a strong second half by taking care of the ball.

After committing seven first-quarter turnovers, the Patriots slowed down the pace. They committed just six turnovers the rest of the way.

“I think we just calmed down,” Dirksen said. “In the beginning we came out a little shaky and our offense wasn't working very well and then we started feeling more comfortable in the second half.

“They are a sectional opponent so it’s nice to play how we did.”

Barnes finished with 11 for the Tigers with Olivia Conklin adding 10.

Schwieterman was Jay’s second leading scorer with 15. She had a strong night from the field, hitting 4-of-7 shots.

Yorktown coach Leigh Ann Barga said her team wasn’t expecting Jay County to play as much man-to-man defense, resulting in some of the offensive struggles later in the game. The Tigers scored in double digits the first two quarters, but only had two points in the third — a drive by Lilly Sylvester — and six on a pair of threes in the fourth quarter.

“For the most part, they always play that 1-2-2, so we really worked on that,” Barga said. “I told them the only way to get them out of it is to shoot it. We did that, but when they did go man-to-man, we didn’t drive and kick it out like we should, and we didn’t hit the shot if we did.

“We played hard but we just couldn’t score in the second half.

Junior varsity

The Patriots edged out a 3-point victory against Yorktown in three-quarter game 22-19.

Jay County (5-7) had a strong second period where it outscored the Tigers 10-5 to take control of the lead. Raylah Newton had four of her game-high 10 points in the quarter, while Alexis Sibray had four of her seven and Allie McAbee hit her only shot.

Bella Chapman was Yorktown’s leading scorer with five points, while Conklin and Mabrey Wood both had four.