Second-half smackdown

The Patriots and Huskies have met seven times over the past seven seasons, including five times in sectional games.

In those games, the Patriots came within one possession three times and forced overtime twice, but never pulled out a victory.

The Patriots made sure that they wouldn’t fall to 0-8 with a dominant third quarter.

The Jay County High School girls basketball team went on a 20-9 run in the third quarter to secure its first victory over the Hamilton Heights Huskies 57-38 Saturday.

The Patriots (2-0) have played HHHS seven times since the 2017-18 season falling in every matchups. Five of those losses came in the postseason, including the past four years. Jay County fell to the Huskies (0-4) by three in overtime of the 2021-22 season under Kirk Comer, by one in overtime of the 2023-22 regular season contest and by one in last year’s sectional championship. 

“It feels great,” said JCHS coach Sherri McIntire. “They’ve had our number the last few years and we’ve lost to them in overtime. Last year in the sectional we lost. Just so many tight games.

“So this was a game, with them being in our sectional that we obviously wanted to win and felt like going in we had a really good chance to win. Anytime you can beat a sectional opponent and send a message, that’s what we want to do.

“It was very sweet. I felt like it was a win for a lot of former Lady Patriots.”

Jay County came out strong in the first quarter, jumping out to a 12-4 lead, but nine points from Presley Cherry powered a Huskies comeback in the second. Hamilton Heights even took a momentary lead at 15-14. HHHS initially beat the Patriots’ 1-3-1 press to get the ball to Sarah Sherrill in the post, but rather than taking the shot, passed the ball back out to Lillie Champion in the corner. Gabi Petro couldn’t close out on Champion in time, fouling the shooter who made the basket and converted the free throw for a 4-point play.

JCHS reclaimed the lead with a drive by Hallie Schwieterman before a pair of Cherry foul shots put the Huskies up 17-16. Two free throws from Schwieterman and an Amelia Heath bucket flipped the score back into the favor of the Patriots a final time before another trip to the charity stripe for Cherry cut it to 20-19 entering the intermission.

Coming out of the half, Jay County was determined to take control.

“We all came out of the locker room with the energy to beat them,” said junior guard Alexis Sibray. “The coaches talking to us about coming out strong is what got us there.”

Out the gate, Schwieterman scored on a Eurostep before Katie Brown launched a three to tie at 22-22. After the defensive miscue, the Patriots’ defense stepped up and it resulted in a game-changing run.

Jay County went on a 14-2 run, with 10 of those points coming in transition opportunities. A majority of those opportunities came as the result of a 1-3-1 zone where Schwieterman would swipe the ball away up top or pressure from the sophomore guard and Sibray would result in dangerous passes that Elizabeth Brunswick picked off from the weak side of the floor.

“I think they put a little more pressure on our guards and it panicked us a little bit,” said HHHS coach Erin Trimpe. “It took us out of what we know how to do and what we did well in that first half, and we weren’t just quite ready to handle it.”

Jay County High School’s Raylin Hummer puts up a shot in the first quarter of Saturday’s 57-38 win over Hamilton Heights. Hummer led JCHS with 10 rebounds, including six of the team’s 27 offensive boards. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

During the stretch, the Patriots got a three and a layup from Schwieterman, two buckets from Sibray, a post fadeaway from Raylin Hummer and a hoop and layup from Brunswick.

JCHS never relinquished its 12-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Hamilton Heights never scored consecutive baskets in the final period, while giving up a 5-point and a 6-point run to extend the Patriots’ lead.

McIntire was pleased with how the players from her rotation filled in different rolls effectively.

For the second game in a row, Schwieterman had 27 points to lead the team, while also recording a high of six steals. Sibray followed with eight points on, while the second-most rebounds at seven.

Brunswick and Heath followed up with seven points apiece, while Hummer and Natalie May each had four. Hummer pulled down a team-high seven rebounds as well.

Petro didn’t manage to score on four shots, but dished out a team-high four assists.

“I felt like we did a little bit better job with (staying within our offense),” said McIntire. “I could go down the line and talk about a lot of individuals, but it was just a great team effort.”

Cherry finished with a team-high 11 points for Hamilton Heights, carried by shooting 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.