By RYAN WALKER
JAY COUNTY — Jay County proved why it’s the best team in the Allen County Athletic Conference and now controls its own destiny to win it.
In ugly but effective fashion, the Patriots defeated Bluffton 40-24 on its home court and now commands a 4-0 record in the conference with two more games remaining on their schedule.
The Tigers (13-4, 4-1 ACAC) had an opportunity to have sole possession of first place had it won and only a winless Heritage team standing in the way. After a lackluster 6-37 mark from the field and 19 turnovers, that was all pretty much wiped away.
Now, the Tigers have lost three of their last four games after starting the season 12-1 and 4-1 in the conference.
“I’m pretty disappointed in the way we’ve played really in the last — we really haven’t played very good in the last three games,” Bluffton head coach Doug Curtis said after the game. “We do a point check on certain things that have to happen to win games, and we haven’t done a good job for three straight games … but yeah, that was disappointing for what was on the line.”
A combination of not hitting shots and Jay County’s size and zone defense was the biggest of Curtis’ point checks. The 16 percent clip from the field and 24 points was the worst this season, especially considering the uptick in offense under Curtis’ first season averaging 53 points per contest.
Jay County, now on the verge of its fourth straight ACAC regular season title and is 24-0 since the 2019-20 season, deserves a lot of credit on defense.
The Patriots played their 1-2-2 and 3-2 zone with Molly Muhlenkamp who is 6’0”, Bella Denton, also 6’0”, and Meredith Dirksen, 5’11” in the middle of it. That created big issues for Bluffton, who only has one player over 5’9” in freshmen Sophie Eisenhut, who only played eight minutes.
Bluffton began the night with an 0-8 drought and several first quarter turnovers. That rallied together a 10-0 Jay County advantage in the first quarter. Forward Maryn Schreiber finally found the bottom of the basket in the post for their first points at the 6:43 mark in the second quarter. Haley Gibson 30 seconds later drilled a three for the one. Those were the only made shots they got until the second half.
“(Jay County’s) size always seems to be an issue,” Curtis said. “Even when they’ve had the teams before, they had good size with Dirksen and (Hallie) Schwieterman. So, we have three keys coming in, and one of the keys coming in was we’ve got to win the rebounding edge, and I’d be really surprised if we did that. We’ve got to be tougher than they are. I definitely thought we weren’t doing that.”
Although Bluffton did end up tying with 25 rebounds each, the second chance points outweighed that statistic.
Denton finished with eight points and four rebounds, while Sophie Saxon benefitted the most with 20 points, all inside the arc and at the free-throw line.
Ever so slowly, the Patriots knocked time off the clock and waited for an open look while giving the Tigers fits on the other end. It was the perfect recipe to take control of the conference.
There is some hope for Bluffton at revenge in the near-future, even if it isn’t the conference regular season crown.
Next week, Bluffton will travel to Southern Wells in Round 1 of the ACAC Tournament. A win would play the winner of Woodlan (10-7) and Heritage (1-13). The Tigers defeated Woodlan by three on the road earlier in the year, and if they can potentially get to that point, Jay County would likely be waiting for them in the championship game.
Add the fact that arguably Bluffton’s best player, Konley Ault, could be back as soon as the Southern Wells game, looking to be cleared from a wrist injury that has sidelined her in 10 straight games.
The sophomore was top-three in points, rebounds, assists, steals and field goal percentage before the injury and would be a key piece back for a rematch with Jay County.
“By losing this game our goal is to get another shot at them. The only way to do that is to get to the Saturday game,” Curtis said. “We really are looking forward to the Tuesday game and give ourselves an opportunity to get to that Friday game and we’ll see what happens. It would be great to get another opportunity, and we’ll see about the injury. I mean, we’ve played since the sixth game without her.”
Bluffton’s Round 1 game with Southern Wells will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9.
Jay County also won the junior varsity contest 22-13 in two quarters. The Tigers were led by Addison Kauffman with five points and Madelyn Funk added three.
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JAY COUNTY 40, BLUFFTON 24
At Jay County
BLUFFTON (13-4, 4-1 ACAC): Mayrn Schreiber 1-6 4-8 6, Haley Gibson 2-15 0-0 5, Isabella Stout 2-8 0-0 5, Madyson Sonnigsen 1-2 1-2 4, Marly Drayer 0-4 2-2 2, Tressa Renner 0-1 2-2 2, Sophie Eisenhut 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 6-37 9-14 24.
JAY COUNTY (15-2, 4-0 ACAC): Sophie Saxman 7-12 6-8 20, Bella Denton 3-5 2-4 8, Hallie Schwieterman 2-11 1-2 7, Molly Muhlenkamp 1-3 1-2 3, Danielle May 1-2 0-0 2, Meredith Dirksen 0-3 0-0 0, Breanna Dirksen 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14-39 10-15 40.
Bluffton 0 10 10 5 –– 24
Jay County 11 10 9 9 –– 40
Three-point FG: Bluffton: , Jay County: 2-11 (Schwieterman 2-6, M. Dirksen 0-3, B. Dirksen 0-1, May 0-1). Rebounds: Bluffton: 25, Jay County: 25 (Saxman 5, Denton 4, B. Dirksen 4, Schwieterman 3, Muhlenkamp 2, May 1, M. Dirksen 1). Turnovers: Bluffton: 19, Jay County: 10. Fouls: Bluffton: 14, Jay County: 14. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: 22-13 Jay County (two quarters)
