November 29, 2024 at 10:39 p.m.
JCHS girls basketball

Searching for balance

Patriots fall despite a career-high 30 points from Schwieterman
Jay County High School sophomore Hallie Schwieterman fights to get a shot up between McKenna Goble (left) and Alyssa Anderson (right) of Woodlan during the second quarter of the Patriots’ 52-46 loss Friday to the Warriors. Schwieterman scored a career-high 30 points for JCHS, but no one else on the squad had more than five points. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)
Jay County High School sophomore Hallie Schwieterman fights to get a shot up between McKenna Goble (left) and Alyssa Anderson (right) of Woodlan during the second quarter of the Patriots’ 52-46 loss Friday to the Warriors. Schwieterman scored a career-high 30 points for JCHS, but no one else on the squad had more than five points. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)

Neither team had much luck slowing down the other’s star player.

For the Patriots, Hallie Schwieterman posted a career-high scoring total.

Woodlan’s Alyssa Anderson recorded what might be termed as a double double-double.

Anderson got a little more help on the offensive end while the home team never quite recovered from its futile shooting in the second quarter.

Despite 30 points from Schwieterman, the Jay County High School girls basketball team suffered its second loss of the season Friday — 52-46 — as Alyssa Anderson’s 22 points and 24 rebounds powered the Woodlan Warriors.

“We struggled offensively,” said JCHS coach Sherri McIntire, whose team was 1-of-8 from the field in the second quarter. “Part of that is we prepared a lot all week for them to play the 1-3-1 and they did, and I felt like we handled that well and they got right out of that. 

“If you go back and look at every game we’ve struggled with, it’s been a team that’s played us a tight man-to-man defense. We’re just struggling getting into a flow in our offense. Part of that is learning to play with each other, learning to have confidence in each other, and we’re not there yet.”

Anderson scored the first five points of the second quarter, breaking a 13-13 tie and giving the Warriors (4-2, 1-0 ACAC) a lead they would never relinquish. Her first hoop of the period came on a put-back. Her second came after her second offensive rebound of the possession and resulted in a three-point play at the 6:47 mark.

Jay County (3-2, 0-1 ACAC) trailed by six at the half and got back to within four on a Schwieterman 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. However, a McKenna Goble triple followed by another Anderson put-back pushed the Warriors ahead by nine.

They kept an advantage of at least seven before backing off of a Schwieterman drive in the final seconds.

“I’m happy,” said WHS coach Dave Randall, whose team lost twice to Jay County a year ago — first 60-53 and then 61-40 in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament championship game. “The conference has gone through Jay County since they joined the league, so if you have a goal of winning the conference, it starts here. … So to be able to come down here and eke out a win, I’m thrilled.”

Jay County has won nine of the last 11 Allen County Athletic Conference titles. They had not dropped an ACAC game since falling 36-25 to Woodlan in the conference tournament on Jan. 14, 2020.

The loss Friday was the first for the Patriots to a team other than Bellmont or Hamilton Heights — the Huskies knocked them out of the tournament in each of the last four seasons — in more than 34 months. (They fell 58-53 to Norwell on Jan. 18, 2022.)

After scoring its first dozen points on 3-pointers, Woodlan shifted its focus to the inside for the rest of the game. Anderson scored all of her 22 points inside — she came into the game averaging 14.8 — and when she or teammates missed she was ready to create second opportunities as she grabbed 11 offensive rebounds.

Of the Warriors’ 15 made field goals in the final three quarters, 13 came from within 10 feet of the basket.

“We’re not a great shooting team,” said Randall. “So what I tried to tell our kids to do is don’t settle for contested jump shots. We did a couple times … but we did a good job of doing what we wanted to do rather than what they were willing to let us do. We were stubborn enough to say, ‘No, we’re gonna spread the floor, we’re gonna get to the rim.’

“Obviously having Alyssa is a huge help,” he added of the junior who also had four blocks and two assists. “Alyssa is a rebounding machine. … What can I say? … She plays hard. … She just puts her head down and does whatever her team needs to win.”

Brooke Kneubuhler and Emma McDaniel had nine and eight points, respectively, in support of Anderson.

    Gabi Petro of Jay County defends against Woodlan’s Reagan Widenhoefer during the first quarter Friday. Jay County’s loss was its first to a team other than Bellmont or Hamilton Heights in nearly three years and its first in the Allen County Athletic Conference since falling 36-25 to Woodlan on Jan. 14, 2020. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)
 
 


The Patriots couldn’t recover from their drought in the second quarter, when Amelia Heath was their only player to hit a field goal. They also had opportunities slip away as they missed half of their six free throws in the period.

While Schwieterman shot 8-of-19 (42%) en route to her career-high total — her previous best was 27 points in each of the first two games of the season — the rest of the squad was 6-of-30 (20%). Elizabeth Brunswick, who got more aggressive attacking the basket late in the game, and Alexis Sibray followed Schwieterman with five points apiece.

“I feel like our kids are definitely learning and progressing,” said McIntire. “Things that we work on in practice, they’re absorbing it and trying to do it. …

“We’re still not comfortable with each other yet. We need to have confidence in our teammates and share the basketball.”

PORTLAND WEATHER

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