Pats can’t slow Arabians

The Patriots struggled on offense. They found it difficult to penetrate the paint, to get open looks from three and to even keep possession of the ball.

The Arabians simply did not share the Patriots’ problems.

The result was the largest deficit in six seasons.

The Jay County High School girls basketball team couldn’t slow down the potent offense of the Pendleton Heights Arabians on and couldn’t jumpstart its own either, leading to a 77-29 loss on Thursday.

The 48-point loss snapped a four-game winning streak and was biggest margin of defeat the Patriots (7-6) have taken since the 2018-19 season when they fell to Homestead 91-41.

“We wanted to try and match their physicality, but we’re just not there yet,” said JCHS coach Sherri McIntire. “That’s a very fine basketball team. They have depth, their starting five is solid obviously and we could play them 20 times and just not beat them.

“We’re just not to that level yet, but those are the kind of team we want on our schedule, because that’s the level we want to get to. Those kind of teams we need to play to help us when we get to the tournament.”

Jay County matched the Arabians (9-6) over the opening minutes of the game. Adah Hupfer got PHHS on the board first with a drop step to the middle off of a post up, but coming back down the other end, Hallie Schwieterman got to the line to knock down a pair of free throws.

Pendleton Heights took the lead right back as Kaycie Warfel knocked down a corner triple on an assist from Olivia Jones. The Patriots came up empty on the following possession, but shortly after, Alexis Sibray pulled down a defensive rebound, pushed the pace and let her own 3-pointer fly in transition to knot things up at 5-5.

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Jay County girls basketball vs. Pendleton Heights (1/2/2025)

Fifty seconds after Sibray’s three, Jones responded with another triple off of a pin down screen and assist by Mamie Trout that sparked a 16-0 run that occurred over only a 1 minute, 38 seconds.

All 16 points during the run came from Warfel — she led all scorers with 39 — or Jones. The latter had 11 points and finished with game-highs in assists with seven and rebounds with nine. (Hupfer also snagged nine boards.) During the stretch, the Arabians scored in a variety of ways, including in transition, by attacking the paint and nailing threes.

The Patriots ended the drought with Schwieterman hitting a hanging layup, but Pendleton Heights finished the quarter with another three and transition hoop to lead 26-7 at the break.

JCHS tried flipping between a 2-3 zone and a man-to-man defense throughout, but it couldn’t slow down the Arabians as they got two more kills (run of 10-0 or better).

“We’ve really been searching for a game where we put 32 minutes together,” said PHHS coach Nick Rogers. “That was the message. … We wanted to try and test some of those young guards and we were able to do that.

“I was surprised that they went (man-to-man) but with such a young team, their coach is trying to do some good things for the future. … We made a lot of plays today but they’re doing the right things and continuing to get better.”

The Patriots struggled with ball security throughout the game, coughing up the ball 25 times, while only forcing seven PHHS turnovers. Pendleton Heights scored 22 points as a direct result of turnovers, while adding another 14 in manufactured transition opportunities.

“I think it was a combination (of their pressure and our poor decisions),” said McInitre. “I think at times we played scared. The kids knew coming in that this was probably going to be their toughest opponent they’ve played so far.”

Between the 25 turnovers and allowing 22 offensive rebounds, the Arabians took 29 more shot attempts than Jay County. They took advantage of those extra opportunities, shooting 32-for-64 (50%) from the field, while Jay County finished 11-of-35 (31.4%).

Schwieterman finished as the Patriots’ leading scorer with 16 points, while Alexis Sibray followed with nine points while shooting 57.1% (4-7) from the field.

JCHS will look to quickly forget the loss against the Class 4A school, as they travel to Yorktown to take on a potential sectional opponent.

“We’re not going to give a lot of thought to this game,” McIntire said. “They’re better than us, but we’ve got to move on. We’ve got to prepare for Saturday.

“That’s a game where we’re going to need to play well, but it’s a game that we can win against a sectional opponent.”