Tourney champs

BERNE — The Patriots hadn’t lost a game since Nov. 17 as they built a 14-game winning streak going into Saturday.

They haven’t lost in the Allen County Athletic Conference Tournament since the 2020-21 season.

The Patriots took down the Warriors in the past two tournaments as well.

All three of those streaks grew.

Three times wasn’t the charm for the Woodlan Warriors as the Jay County High School girls basketball team won its fourth-straight ACAC tournament championship with a 61-40 victory in Saturday's championship game at South Adams.

“It was fun,” JCHS coach Sherri McIntire said. “Walk away tonight feeling like we played well. … I felt like we had good leadership from our seniors, a great atmosphere tonight and it will help us get ready for the tournament.”

The victory extends Jay County’s winning streak to 15-straight games, as it hasn’t suffered a loss for just under three months. It also has a higher Sagarin rating than the final three teams – Delta (58.23), Southern Wells (36.5) and Heritage (34.94) – with a rating of 81.26.

The win also secures the Patriots (17-2) their fourth consecutive ACAC tournament title, the last three have all come against the Warriors (12-8). In 2022, Woodlan got clobbered 58-27 and fell 38-31 in 2021.

“They’re a good team,” Woodlan coach Gary Cobb said. “They play good team defense. They put a lot of pressure on the ball. They force you to make plays.

“There’s no shame in losing to that team. I think it’s their fourth year in a row they’ve won it and that’s no accident. It’s not just they got lucky. It’s because a lot of those girls have been in this moment before and they were ready for it.”

Along with the tournament trophy, another Patriot brought home some hardware as Sophie Saxman was named the tournament Most Valuable Player. Through two games in the tournament, Saxman scored 36 points, 29 rebounds, eight assists and eight steals.

“I’m definitely not used to this stuff,” Saxman said. “I’m proud of myself but also know I owe a lot of it to my teammates.”

The senior had a double-double against Woodlan with 17 points and 14 rebounds, including 12 second-half points as Jay County pulled away.

Saxman struggled from the field, only shooting 21.4% (3-14), but she consistently drew fouls on the Warriors defenders to get to the free-throw line. The bulk of her points came at the charity stripe, sinking 11-of-14 shots (78.6%).

“I’ve just practiced free throws so much in high pressure situations that it’s just automatic now,” Saxman said. “I really should have got out of my head on the bunnies but it didn’t affect (my free throws).”

JCHS finished 15-for-21 (71.4%) at the free throw line as Woodlan only managed four trips to the stripe in which it shot 8-for-9 (88.9%).

In the first half, Jay County lived off of turnovers. They forced the Warriors to cough up the rock 10 times in the first half – 17 total – which led to four baskets. Five more points were scored within the first few seconds of crossing the timeline in the first half.

Hallie Schwieterman ended up the benefactor of many of these quick opportunities to help her score a game-high 19 points.

“When some of those seniors were struggling in the first half, I thought Hallie kept us alive,” McIntire said. “She played a really nice and smart game. She had good shot selection so very pleased with her tonight.”

When Woodlan and Jay County met on Nov. 24, Taylor Kneubuhler led the Warriors with 16 points. The Patriots cut her scoring in half on Saturday, only giving up eight points, four of which came on free throws.

Alyssa Anderson and Reagan Widenhoefer kept Woodlan alive with 15 and 12 points respectively. Anderson dominated the offensive glass, pulling down eight offensive rebounds – she had 16 total – four of which led to points. 

“She’s just a tough matchup for all these teams we play because she’s so long,” Cobb said. “I asked her in the first quarter ‘How are you doing?’ she said she’s okay and I said ‘Good, because you’re not coming off the floor.’

“We’re lucky to have her.”

On the other hand, Widenhoefer shot well from beyond the arc with four 3-point shots.

Woodlan started to fall behind as they quieted down. Widenoefer didn’t hit a shot in the second half and Andserson couldn’t suck in any offensive boards in the fourth quarter.