Patriots keep Tigers at bay

By ETHAN OSKROBA

The Commercial Review

When the Patriots sprinted to a 13-point edge late in the opening quarter, it seemed like stretching their win streak to seven was a foregone conclusion.

Instead, the Jay County High School girls basketball team had to weather the storm to keep their momentum going. The hot start and a finishing flourish were just enough to outlast the resilient Yorktown Tigers 66-59 on Tuesday.

“We jumped off to a really good start, and I think that was probably the key to the game, because I felt like we kind of let them creep back in in the second and third quarter, and then we had a good finish in the fourth,” said Jay County coach Sherri McIntire. “But I really felt like that first quarter was huge. Being able to jump out to an early lead and then, obviously it kind of swung back and forth several times, but I was pleased that we kept our composure and did the things that we needed to do on both ends of the floor.”

In total, the Patriots (8-3) outscored Yorktown 39-25 in the first and last quarters while tallying seven fewer points than the Tigers (6-6) in the middle two.

As usual, much of Jay County’s production in all portions of the game came from Hallie and Karsyn Schwieterman. The sisters each scored 26 points and also provided contributions across the board, combining for 10 assists. Hallie also logged nine steals while Karsyn amassed 12 rebounds.

“Being able to get out there on defense and getting your hand on a deflection or something, and then getting down the floor in transition, and then just knowing whether, OK, do I take it or do I look to kick?” McIntire said. “And I felt like they did a really nice job reading that tonight, whether they were passing to each other or passing to another teammate, and just very pleased with their overall play tonight.”

But while the Schwietermans provided the bulk of the Patriots’ baskets, many of the most timely scores came courtesy of Elizabeth Brunswick. The sophomore contributed to the hot start with five first-quarter points and then finished through contact for a three-point play to put Jay County back in front after its lead eroded in the second period.

Though Brunswick went scoreless for more than 18 minutes of game time after the and-one, she saved her most impactful basket for last. With 46 seconds to go and the Patriots clinging to a three-point lead, Brunswick sliced to the hoop and converted on a Karsyn Schwieterman feed to extend the Jay County advantage.

“We were on red, so we weren’t supposed to shoot a layup, but Karsyn had a good drive and I was there open, so I went ahead and took it,” Brunswick said.

Brunswick, Hallie Schwieterman and Karsyn Schwieterman accounted for 62 of Jay County’s 66 points (94%), with Charlee Peters coming off the bench to provide the other four. The trio thrived in transition, with half of the Patriots’ 20 two-point baskets coming on the fast break.

“That’s always part of our game plan,” McIntire said. “I think that’s our strength. Obviously, when you have the quickness that we do up front, Liz and Hallie and Karsyn, that’s our plan, is to get a deflection or get a steal and get the ball out in transition, and we felt like that was probably our strength over them tonight was our quickness.”

The flurry of transition baskets was necessary to offset sparkling stat lines from Yorktown’s Olivia Conklin (32 points, 6-for-8 from 3-point range) and Lilly Sylvester (20 points, 13 rebounds). Despite those efforts, the Patriots have now won seven games in a row, a feat the program has accomplished in 11 of the last 12 seasons.

“Hopefully it’s a big confidence builder that we had several people contribute tonight, whether it was in scoring or in rebounding or just a defensive stop, and to beat a team, this team beat us double figures last year,” McIntire said. “So, to me, that just shows growth in our kids, and it’s always good to send that message to a sectional opponent … Hopefully, we’re putting a little doubt in their minds whether they can beat us or not.”