Family business

Renna Schwieterman, one of the best basketball players in the history of the county, received her flowers prior to the tipoff.

While one Schwieterman got her due for her time served, two more powered the Patriots past an Allen County Athletic Conference foe.

On the same night their older sister got inducted into the Wall of Fame, Hallie and Karsyn Schwieterman combined for 43 points to power the Jay County High School girls basketball team past the Bluffton Tigers 63-45 Friday evening.

Minutes before the Schwieterman sisters took to the floor, Renna Schwieterman, who is the all-time leading scorer in county history at 1,754 points, got inducted onto the Jay County Wall of Fame. After watching their older sister get honored, Hallie and Karsyn came ready to beat Bluffton (11-5, 3-2 ACAC).

“I think it just gave us confidence to do good and take after her,” Hallie Schwieterman said. “I think we came in good as a group. We were rough at times, but I think that really showed what we can do and showed that we are the better team.”

“Honestly, I’m so proud of her,” Karsyn Schwieterman said. “I’m so blessed for everything and so proud of what she did.”

The sisters stuffed the stat sheet. Karsyn Schwieterman scored a game-high 29 points and also sucked in five rebounds. Hallie Schwieterman added 14 points while snagging six boards, dishing out three assists and blocking one shot.

The victory over Bluffton comes one year after the Patriots took a 30-point loss to the Tigers.

“I’m extremely pleased with our kids,” said JCHS coach Sherri McIntire. “I said something to them on the bench about, ‘You remember last year, it was definitely not the same result.’ The growth that we’ve shown from last year to this year is great.

“They’re a solid ball club. They’re a lot like us, as far as, they like to push the ball, they like to drive and they like to get out and get some transition baskets. For us to come out and be able to get a victory like that, I’m proud of us.”

Jay County (10-4, 3-1 ACAC) let the Tribe hang around in the first half. The Patriots deployed a man-to-man defense for the first two quarters and while it held Bluffton’s top two scorers on the season to just seven points, JCHS entered the intermission with only a 4-point lead.

Coming out for the second half, McIntire decided to give Bluffton a different look in the form of a 1-3-1 zone.

“I saw them struggle with that a bit against Woodlan,” McIntire said. “They like to dribble drive and it’s harder to dribble drive in that 1-3-1. It was a good decision on our part and the kids executed it just like we wanted them to and got in the passing lanes. It was a big key to our win tonight.”

The zone did its job, forcing the Tigers to cough up the rock seven times in the quarter. Of those seven turnovers, four of them directly led to transition buckets for Karsyn Schwieterman, who played the top part of the zone, and another put her on the line for a pair of free throws she knocked down.

“Hallie was getting up every time and everybody on the sides too,” Karsyn Schwieterman said. “We were just doing a really good job of jumping out and getting on all the passes.”

While the defense played a large role in Jay County outscoring BHS 26-9 in the third, the Patriots found success in the half court as well.

Hallie Schwieterman found Raylah Newton twice on the wings for wide open 3-point shots that the senior drained. Newton repaid the favor midway through the period for Hallie Schwieterman’s second triple of the night.

Hallie Schwieterman also pushed the pace for Jay County, creating a pair of transition opportunities off of defensive rebounds that she took coast-to-coast for easy layups.

“We had a really good halftime talk,” Hallie Schwieterman said. “She really came at us at halftime and told us we need to step it up for next week, because we need to show that needs to be beaten and it’s hard to beat us.”

JCHS was up just two points before going on the 21-2 run to end the period. The two Bluffton points came on a pair of free throws by Konley Ault after she came up from a scrum with the ball under the rim.

Bluffton’s Konley Ault only needed 12 points to hit 1,000 in her career, but the defensive effort from Karsyn Schwieterman and the zone kept her down until the fourth quarter. She reached the milestone on a 3-pointer from the right wing with 7:30 left in the game on an assist from Kamryn Ault. (Hallie Schwieterman also recently reached the 1,000-point mark, doing so on Tuesday’s 74-45 win over Concordia.)

Konley Ault finished with 21 points, 14 of which came in the fourth quarter after Jay County had developed a 20-point advantage.

While the Schwietermans headlined the night, JCHS got some solid contributions from other Patriots as well. Newton followed the sisters with 11 points, Elizabeth Brunswick grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and dished out four assists and Charlee Peters hit the offensive glass hard to create four extra possessions.

“It was just a huge team effort,” McIntire said. “Raylah was shooting the ball and shooting with confidence. When she can hit those threes, it makes us harder to defend. … We asked Liz to run the point a little bit and she didn’t hesitate to do that. I’m pleased she was able to step in a different role like that tonight. … We need a girl like Charlee to be a big rebounder. That’s big for a freshman to do.”

Junior varsity

The Patriots’ JV team fell to Bluffton 21-10 in two quarters of play on Friday.

Jay County struggled to guard the 3-point line, giving up four triples to the Tigers. Three of the 3-pointers came in the first quarter with Krista Blair, Grace Fry and Josie Nash all hitting from deep. Blair and Fry also had 2-point baskets to help Bluffton take a 13-7 advantage.

Araitz Lekue Magro led Jay County with six points. She hit a triple and sank a pair of free throws in the first quarter, but only went 1-for-4 from the charity stripe in the second.

Kayah Kaigler had the only other basket for the Patriots, hitting it in the opening period. Claudia Dirksen and Kendal Schemenaur both split a pair of free throws in the second period.