Bruins brutalized

HARTFORD CITY — A kill in basketball – a 10-0 run or better – can often make all the difference.

A dominant defensive scheme gave the Patriots three kills through the first three quarters to walk away with an easy victory.

All of the Patriots found a way to contribute as the Jay County High School girls basketball team outplayed the Blackford Bruins in nearly every facet Tuesday to power a 57-21 win that got it back to 0.500 on the season.

It was a total team effort for Jay County (5-5) as all eight available players scored and grabbed at least one rebound, six had at least one assist, six and one or more blocks and six six had multiple steals.

“It was good to see everybody in the scoring column,” said JCHS coach Sherri McIntire. “Obviously two in double digits and almost three – Alexis (Sibray) was right there. We need to continue to do that because teams are going to continue to focus on Hallie (Schwieterman). …

“We have a saying that coach Wellman came up with, ‘Everybody eats.’ I thought tonight was a fine example that everybody ate. They shared the basketball, were looking for people in transition and making the extra pass.”

The Patriots went on a 10-0 run or better three different times in the game. After giving up the opening basket to Blackford (1-10) as Raegan Ridgway put back a blocked shot, JCHS went on a 3 minute, 30 second 10-0 run to take the lead. Sibray scored the first three points, followed by three from Schwieterman and then a pair of drives by Elizabeth Brunswick.

The Patriots scored 20 second-quarter points, including a 13-0 run, that put the game out of reach. This run featured four points from Brunswick, a pair of transition baskets by Schwieterman, a jumper from Sibray and a Natalie May 3-pointer.

The final run came at the start of the third quarter. Three baskets by Brunswick, two by Schwieterman and one from Newton powered a 12-0 stretch that pushed the score to 42-12.

“We missed some rotations,” said BHS coach Aaron Murphy. “We left the high post open multiple times and once they get the ball in the high post we were dead. They were just able to turn and hit shooters, so we’ve just got to do a better job of keeping the ball out of the high post.”

The defensive end of the floor played a large factor in the Patriots’ offensive success. Jay County’s defensive scheme often had players matched up in a man-to-man defense with a lot of ball pressure and Sibray fronting Blackford’s leading scorer Rylee Heiser in the post.

That scheme, along with some 1-3-1 and a half-court press, forced the Bruins to commit 27 turnovers. Jay County finished with 20 steals, led by Gabi Petro with five, while Schwieterman and Brunswick each had four. All of the takeaways led to Blackford only having one more shot attempt than turnover through the first three quarters.

Along with leading the Patriots in steals, Petro had a team high seven assists, three blocks and finished with five rebounds, one rebound shy of Brunswick for the team-high.

“I think if you do well on defense, that helps your offensive game,” Petro said. “It just all comes together when your defense picks up, then your offense picks up. …

“In practice we’ve worked harder on transitions, especially after a couple of games where (teams) were quicker than us. So, we’ve worked a lot hard in practices transitioning down and back to the floor.”

While Petro led the floor game, Brunswick and Schwieterman did a bulk of the scoring for the Patriots. Following up a 21-point performance against Adams Central, Brunswick put up another game-high 18 points on 7-of-14 from the field. Schwieterman also shot 50% from the floor (6-12), finishing with 15 points.

“Girls basketball is all about confidence and her confidence is up right now and that’s huge,” McIntire said of Brunswick. “Her and Hallie are getting more comfortable with each other and building confidence in each other. As you saw tonight, they are starting to look for one another and I’m just very pleased with Liz’s progress.”

Brunswick added six rebounds and five assists. The Bruins had a trio of players finish with six points. Kaylor Hedge put up all of her points in the third quarter by attacking seams in the defense, Heiser hit a pair of layups and two free throws and Ridgeway had a three, a free throw and the game’s opening layup.

The only statistical category that Blackford competed in was rebounding, actually winning the battle on the glass 34-26. They finished 21.1 percentage points higher than Jay County on the defensive glass.