Patriots end regular season on a sour note

OSSIAN — If the Patriots ended the regular season with their originally scheduled opponent, they would have rode a 28-point victory into the sectional.

Instead, poor weather a week prior pushed an earlier game back and the result was a 55-point loss to take into the postseason.

Jay County High School’s girls basketball team suffered an 89-34 loss at the hands of the Class 3A No. 9 Norwell Knights to close the regular season on Tuesday.

The game between Jay County (10-12) and the Knights (15-6) was originally scheduled for Jan. 21, but poor weather pushed the game back to Tuesday.

Hallie Schwieterman scored 76.5% of the Patriots’ points, as she poured in a game-high 26. She also had all 11 points for JCHS in the third quarter, hitting a three, a trio of buckets inside the arc and splitting two pairs of free throws.

Outside of the sophomore, Natalie May hit a 3-pointer in the opening period, and Gabi Petro and Elizabeth Brunswick both had hoops in the second. Brunswick also hit one of two free throws in the fourth quarter.

Norwell’s Vanessa Rosswurm matched Schwieterman with 26 points, but it was three more Knights that put up double digits that made the difference. Macie Saalfrank scored all 18 of her points in the first half. Addie Norris added 13, while Haley Williamson had 10.

The Patriots will open the postseason with a sectional semifinal against the winner of Delta and Hamilton Heights at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 7 at Connersville. Sitting at 10-12, JCHS will need to make a run to the semi-state tournament to avoid their first sub-.500 season since 2013-14.